Escape With My Heart
by Lynx Larabellows
Summary: Maddy Shannon only wanted her family to stay together. She did this because it was their only chance to leave behind a desolate wasteland and actually have a future. She never expected to be held captive or for her guard to be quite so charming. AU.
1. Show Me How It Ends

**Escape with My Heart**

_I. Show Me how it Ends_

Nearby students laughed as the young woman was pushed into a wall, her shoulder impacting hard with the glossy bricks before she crumpled to the ground with a grimace. She sat there dazedly for a moment as people passed her by—some glanced at her with amusement, some completely indifferent and only the rare few looked on with pity, but no one did anything to help her.

Perhaps she should be used to this kind of treatment after enduring it ever since she was young. Each time never failed to leave her stunned at just how cruel people could be and this was no different. She blinked in surprise as her bag was ripped from her slack hands, her current tormentor opening it to unceremoniously dump the contents out onto the floor of the hallway to be crushed by random onlookers.

"Freak," one boy spat hatefully, the slur followed rapidly by many others that she heard daily.

If only she had the courage to actually speak out against them. Just once she would love to inform them that they should read a dictionary and learn better insults, because these were becoming quite tiresome in their frequent usage. Nonetheless, however, these were still effective against her, but she refused to let them see the hurt she felt. She frowned at them through the veil her dark hair created, trying not to flinch when someone mimicked a kick to scare her.

Bullies were something she ought to have been accustomed to, yes… but it still hurt everything time something like this happened. It had begun when she was only a child—mainly just cruel names and taunts. Everything got worse as time went on though, each day harsher than the last, especially since those same bullies from her childhood followed her into high school. She could still recall the first day her tormentors had become more physical, leaving bruises on her skin that lasted for days, but sometimes words could hurt more than violence alone.

The hallway echoed with the shrill sound of the warning bell and her bag was thrown to the floor with the rest of her things. A few uncaring people walked over her things while others kicked it further from her for good measure as they all disbursed. Once the hall was finally clear, she moved quickly to begin gathering her belongings, her shoulder and chest both aching from the abuse.

The second bell rang before she could get much, signaling the start of classes, and she knew she would be late once again no matter how much she hurried. That in mind, she decided to take her time to collect her things. She would already be reprimanded for tardiness despite any excuses, so there was no need to rush. It gave her a few moments of peace at least. She sighed in resignation as she sorted through the broken disks containing her homework files, though thankfully her plexpad was one of the few things that remained undamaged in the wreckage.

Homework was something she kept backup files for, but a new datapad would have been too expensive for her to replace and far more difficult to explain to her parents. They were unaware of just how difficult school was for her and she was only too grateful for their continued ignorance. They had enough to worry about on their own, especially taking her little sister into consideration. Zoe was the one they needed to concentrate on, because if anyone discovered the toddler, they would take her away due to the ridiculous population laws.

Realistically she knew there was only one person she could confide in. Her older brother would simply drop anything if she contacted him right now and he would be by her side in an instant. He knew quite a bit of what went on during school hours. Josh tried as much as he could to defend her. He protected her as much as he was able, but it was difficult for him to interfere when their schedules were so different. She was a grade above him after all, despite the fact that she was younger. He had a lot to deal with on his own as well and the last thing she wanted was to impose more on him when she was already a burden.

No, it was best not to bother him with this. The damage had already been done anyway and she was nearly finished picking everything up. She would rather her family remain ignorant of this incident. She could endure anything these people threw at her, even if only by the skin of her teeth. She was strong enough. _No one can make me feel inferior without my consent_. She struggled to remind herself of that fact as she stood, the crumbled remains of her belongings tucked away carefully in her bag.

Most of it was unsalvageable, but there were a few things that she would be able to repair once she got home. She was rather good with gadgets and tinkering, so if anything it would be something to take her mind off of her impending detention for being late to class again.

Maddy Shannon sighed and walked toward the classroom by herself.

…

The first time Maddy realized there was something different about her was during her first day at kindergarten. She had been so excited to begin, to join her brother Josh and all of his friends even if he was older and would be in a separate class. She had enjoyed preschool very much, because learning was fascinating and she expected that she would enjoy this just as much if not more. She had always been a curious child. She loved nature and mathematics and science and reading—naturally school just seemed to be the perfect place for her to learn everything she wanted to know.

It had been a perfect day in the beginning. Her teachers were all really nice, although they talked really slowly for some odd reason and were reciting a lot of information she had already learned on her own. She figured they would move onto newer things once everyone was all settled in. She had even met a girl who had pigtails just like her own, but Maddy was a bit shy and had never really been about so many children her own age before, so she kept her distance for now.

Maddy was happy to just observe everyone else—to get a better idea of how she was supposed to behave in order to make friends. She had been too quiet during preschool and she had not liked being alone so much, so she was determined this time to get it right. She wondered if children her own age were always this… loud and anxious though. Or maybe it was only because today was the first day of school.

The teacher was a pretty lady with brown hair. She introduced herself as Mrs. Carlson and then told them all to select a seat from the many in the room. She had them all write their names down on a small slip of plexipaper as their first project, to be placed on their respective tables to signify who each seat belonged to.

Maddy had felt rather grown up, knowing that the chair she had chosen was meant for her alone once she labeled it. She was disappointed when most of the tables filled up quickly, but she choose one near the front of the room next to a boy with glasses and a the girl with pigtails. She smiled at them as she sat, but they were too immersed with their project to notice. She took her time with her own and carefully scribed her name with neat writing like her mother taught her.

It had pretty curls and curves and her tongue poked out of the corner of her mouth as she tried to get it right. She took longer than the others at her table and when she finished she realized why; their handwriting was different. It was scratchy and shaky and not at all meticulous as hers.

The girl with pigtails, Ceciliaaccording to her new place card, raised her hand once they were all done and she spoke loudly when the teacher called on her. "Mrs. Carlson! She's doing it wrong!" she huffed angrily, throwing a smug look at Maddy when the teacher came to look.

Maddy bit her lip uncertainly, wondering what she had done wrong. She set her pen down, worrying her bottom lip as she studied her name. It looked fine to her.

"Oh my," Mrs. Carlson said in surprise and a large smile broke out on her face. "Well done, Maddy! You have very pretty handwriting," she praised and Maddy felt the worry fade away as she beamed a smile back. "I must say, you are the first five-year-old I know who already knows cursive. Keep up the good work."

As Mrs. Carlson moved to the next table to help a boy who had been struggling, Cecilia crossed her arms with a frown and glared at Maddy for a moment before she turned away. Maddy was still unsure what she had done wrong, but she had a feeling that Cecilia didn't like her very much.

The last hour of class was story time.

Mrs. Carlson had chosen a book to read and after beginning it herself, she began allowing the students to read a page a time. It was a pretty simple book, one of her favorites in fact. Maddy had read it several times with her parents and brother, but some of the other children seemed to be having trouble with it. She frowned as they stumbled over the words, whispered the sentences in unsure tones or even just stared at the pages uncertainly.

A few of the others in the audience laughed as they struggled to read, snickering among themselves before stifling the sound when the teacher gave them a stern look and offered the reader a word suggestion.

Maddy felt confused by the whole thing. She just couldn't understand why reading the book out loud was so difficult or why anyone was laughing. During her own turn, she read the page with enthusiasm. She refrained from making the silly faced and voices her brother and father did when portraying the pirates, but her voice got faster and faster as she read the exciting parts. She finished quicker than the others and by the end the teacher was smiling encouragingly. She returned the book and hurried back to her seat, eager for the next half of the story.

"Show off…" a boy who had been laughing earlier sneered when she sat down.

Maddy winced in confusion and sank lower in her chair as the others at her table laughed in agreement. She held her hands in her lap and bit down on her bottom lip as she tried to figure out what she had done wrong. She only did what the teacher asked her to do. She bowed her head and tried to ignore the glares being thrown her way.

The next day at school no one would acknowledge her. She tried to talk to her tablemates, but Cecilia only turned away while the boy kept his head down. Mrs. Carlson was all still nice and seemed happy when she turned her work in within moments of it being handed out, but the rest of the classroom all seemed to be whispering and laughing whenever she neared and pointing at her.

Maddy suddenly realized that kindergarten was no better than preschool… it was worse. She kept to herself for the rest of the day and only when her parents asked her what was wrong did she learn why the other children were acting so strangely and oddly mean to her. She was special, they explained. She was very bright for her age and the other children were just learning most of what she already knew.

It was upsetting, because Maddy didn't mean to be smart or to come off as superior. She only wanted to learn and possibly make a few friends. Josh offered to share his with her, but she wanted friends of her own and she just didn't understand why no one wanted to be her friend.

That was the first time she ever crawled into her brother's bed to cry.

…

It escalated year by year, the subtle teasing and cruel remarks eventually becoming more and more creative. Maddy was well known to every single one of her classmates. She had no friends to speak of and yet everyone knew all about the know it all that all the teachers adored. Her peers hated her for it. She was far from the animated girl she had once been though, the one so eager to make friends and go to class.

Maddy had grown increasingly shy and withdrawn during school hours, her fascination with the whole school environment slowly dwindling until she actually dreaded the moment she would step foot inside the crowded hallways. Even though school itself held no appeal, she was still as enthusiastic as ever about learning though, dedicating most of her free time to the library when the other children played. She still participated, raising her hand and answering questions without needing to be prompted, but she counted the minutes until she could return home again.

At home Maddy was a bit quieter than usual, but just as open with her family as she had always been. She never mentioned the fact that she sat alone at lunch or that all of the librarians knew her by name. She felt better at home though, even though she kept the loneliness to herself. Her brother still read books with her almost every night and he still made strange voices and acted out the scenes. Her father sometimes joined in to play the dashing hero on nights he stayed home with them. Her mother helped to create costumes and props out of things lying around the house and continued to help her with her writing and other studied that interested her.

Maddy eventually came to the slow conclusion that perhaps she could live without the friendship of her schoolmates. Cecilia and the others would never be as obnoxiously funny as her brother or as ingenious as her parents. She was content enough with her parents and her brother.

Compared to her family, friends just seemed overrated.

…

Maddy was only eleven when her sister was born. Her mother had to go spend some time with relatives in the country for the duration of the pregnancy, under the guise of taking a well-deserved one year sabbatical from her work at the hospital. It all had to be done very discreetly, because no one could know that her mother was pregnant.

If that information made it to the ears the authorities, Population Control would have demanded the child be terminated like some… some _pest. _They would have killed an unborn child just because of a stupid law that prevented families from having more than two children.

It would be eight long months before the baby would be born. She and Josh had not seen their mother since the news was first announced. She left that night and called regularly, but the house felt decidedly empty without her presence. Her absence is what prompted Maddy to do some extensive research on the population laws.

_A Family is Four. _A ridiculous slogan, one that Maddy had come to despise after even just the barest delve into the laws from the school computer terminals in the library. She was paranoid enough not to use any of her own equipment to study anything, lest it lead back to her family—the school terminals would provide a bit of anonymity… after she disabled all of the security cameras.

It was actually as easy as watching the principal input a code and mimicking it in the software, no one the wiser. If the police kept track of people looking into those laws, especially in regards to punishment and what would happen to the child if it were discovered, she made sure not to be one of them.

As the due date approached, Maddy and Josh were left in the care of their grandparents while their father went to go stay at the hidden safe house so he could be there when the child was born. It happened on a Tuesday. Her uncle had delivered the baby himself—another doctor, just like the rest of the family. And thankfully one who specialized as an obstetrician. The baby was a girl and was given the name Zoe Eliza Shannon. She was only five pounds and four ounces.

It was three more months before either Maddy or Josh actually got to meet their new sister. She had to be smuggled into the city in order to keep her from being discovered. Zoe was the most precious little thing that Maddy had ever seen. Her hair was just a small tuft of black, her face rounded and her arms and legs wrinkled with baby fat. Two dark brown eyes glittered up with a sleepy curiosity and Maddy fell in love with her instantly.

Josh only stared down at her with a frown. "She looks… squishy," he said, wrinkling his nose.

Maddy elbowed him in return. "She's perfect."

No one could ever know about Zoe. She would be taken away if anyone knew about her and none of them ever wanted to be parted from her now that she was part of their lives. Zoe had to be protected, had to be raised inside of their apartment. She could never know more than the faces of her family. She would have to sleep in the same bed as their parents, would have to be kept completely isolated for as long as possible.

Maddy swore her brother to absolute secrecy, even though she knew her parents had done the same eight months ago. She knew what happened to the children who were _confiscated _by the government. She was very astute for an eleven year old and after her little research project, she probably knew more about the population laws than her parents did now.

Unwanted children were not just taken away and placed into homes or orphanages, not even with foster families… they were placed into concentration camps with the thugs and thieves and murderers that the government had no idea what to do with.

Rebreathers were considered a luxury item not to be afforded to the camps despite the necessity of them to purify the air. That meant there was no protection from the poisonous, miasmic smog that clouded the skies and polluted the atmosphere. Most of the younger children died from too much exposure, their lungs giving out before they were old enough to get away from those places.

Likewise there was no protection from the radiation from the sun or even just the cold of the night. It was a death sentence to be sent there. In the minds of the politicians who wrote the laws, sitting on their high and mighty pedestals within the safety of a hyperbaric dome—where they could actually _breathe _filtered oxygen—they were doing what was right to control the population.

Maddy had to wonder if all that oxygen therapy had gone to their heads, because she was only eleven and even she could see that it was just senseless murder. Unfortunately anyone who stood against the laws or the people who wrote them were either imprisoned as traitors under trumped up charges or assassinated under the guise of protecting the peace. Either way it meant one less person to use up valuable resources.

Everyone knew about it, but no one could do anything to stop it.

Maddy felt for those imprisoned and punished for the crime of simply living, but she swore to herself that her sister would have a better fate than that. She would protect her forever. She only wished she knew a way to keep her family safe.

…

Maddy ended up sharing a class with her brother during middle school and things seemed to get better. Apparently her teachers believed she was unchallenged by the same curriculum her peers were doing, because they asked her to take some assessments and she had somehow managed to test out of her own grade level to be placed in several higher courses.

School was much more comfortable with Josh by her side and she actually began to enjoy it on most days. She usually sat with him, slowly beginning to open up to some of his friends. They were nice to her and they never once called her names. She still kept to herself for the most part, but it was nice to speak with other people for a change.

Taunts still happened regularly and she was still teased and ridiculed for being smart. She just found herself not caring quite as much as she used to, because there was only so much her tormentors could do when she had her brother and his friends looking out for her. She was protected and it felt wonderful, even if the others were only doing it for the sake of her brother.

The teachers were the worst part about school though. No longer was she praised for her ability to absorb and apply information—she always tried her hardest to please them, but it seemed as if each attempt only made them angrier with her for some reason.

Mr. Gale, her science teacher, was the only one who tolerated her. He graded her fairly, although he did mark her down for disturbances in his classroom. She knew it was unfair, because she was never the one who actually caused the disturbances. She just somehow always managed to end up with a pile of notes on her desk with various insults written on them or someone would drop something cold and slimy down the back of her shirt to make her jump and shriek.

It was never her fault, but she got punished for it anyway.

Josh had definitely become her rock. He never said anything when she approached his bed, unable to find the peace of mind to sleep in her own. He would just move over, pushing himself against the wall to give her some room to join him and he would hold her all throughout the night. She always fell asleep instantly, because she felt so safe in his arms.

Maddy didn't know what she would ever do without him.

…

Maddy knew something was wrong as she rubbed absently at her chest, unable to pay attention to her history teacher. Her chest ached a bit, though she easily dismissed it as lingering pains from being pushed into a locker this morning. She sighed heavily, sitting low in her chair as the instructor rambled on monotonously about the Great Famine of 2125, only to frown as someone threw a note on her desk.

As much as she just wanted to ignore it, Maddy knew she would be in trouble should the teacher spot it. Being discreet and quiet, she took it in her hand and unfolded it. It was another crude drawing, just like the one she had found written on her own locker this morning, but this one was a bit more disturbing.

_Do yourself a favor_, the choppy, awkward script proclaimed, complete with an illustration of a stick figure with a noose around its neck.

It was not an odd occurrence and even the contents were becoming something of a commonplace. She received at least one a day most weeks and each time they were getting more and more difficult to simply overlook.

Maddy crumbled the note in her fist without a second thought, crushing it completely and resisting the urge to throw it right back. Her eyes burned as she stared straight ahead, not acknowledging the snickering around her from her classmates. Her heart pounded as she tried to control her breathing, sinking even lower in her seat as she bowed her head.

In her attempt to control her emotions, Maddy forgot all about the pain in her chest.

…

During the summer between eighth grade and their freshmen year of high school, Josh had developed an interest in music. He bought a vintage guitar with practically his entire savings account and began the tedious process of teaching himself to play. He was terrible at first and Maddy had to force herself to sit patiently through hours upon hours of missed chords and loud screeching, but he certainly began to improve as the summer progressed.

By July he had even managed to become good at it, so much that he went out to purchase some tab transcriptions in order to learn actual songs. Josh had even managed to gain some new friends during those few months, all who shared his newfound interest. They were likewise teaching themselves how to play their chosen instruments and soon Josh began leaving the house daily to practice with them elsewhere.

It was nice at first if a bit strange, the quietness a bit startling after a whole month of constant strumming and fumbling. It wasn't until Josh started staying out later and later that it began to get a bit lonely without his presence.

Maddy was not like him. Her brother could waltz into a room of strangers and leave moments later with a handful of new friends. She had no friends; she had acquaintances, ones that she was not particularly fond of even. She was alone and she felt it more when he was not there to keep her from remembering that fact. She did not like this feeling, like she was being left behind.

Josh had just always been _there_; he was always there when Maddy was upset or even just bored. He made everything better, even when she didn't ask him to. She knew it was selfish of her and unfair to him to want him beside her all of the time, but this new feeling his absence invoked was awful.

This feeling of being left behind, of being _forgotten_, only continued to grow and it was not something she could make disappear. He would never try to hurt her intentionally and she knew that, which is why she tried not to let him know just how much it upset her to watch him leave every day.

Maddy instead attempted to keep her mind occupied and dedicated her days to helping her sister. Zoe had no friends of her own to spend the summer with either considering she had never been allowed out of the house and only a select few even knew about her existence. So Maddy brought out all of the books she and Josh used to read together to continue on the tradition.

In regaling the toddler with enthralling tales of pirates scouring the open seas or princesses locked away in towers to be saved by a handsome price, Maddy found some solace. She even used dramatic voices and dug out the old props to put on a show.

Zoe seemed to enjoy the book as much as she did. She was quite the intelligent child and though it would be a long time before Maddy could begin teaching her sister how to read, she decided to teach her the alphabet and some basic phonics. It felt nice to teach her sister, to be someone who she depended on just as Maddy depended on her.

It almost felt like she was needed.

…

Everything only just continued to get progressively worse during junior year.

Josh had begun dating his longtime friend, Kara. She was one of the lead singers in his new band and she was a nice girl who seemed very carefree and confident. She had never participated in the bullying before either, so Maddy was a bit at a loss of why she disliked her girl so much.

It could have been because she was distracting Josh. His every thought seemed to revolve around Kara now. The other girl was steadily stealing away all of the time that Maddy and her brother usually spent together, taking way the only moments that weren't already consumed by his music. He was so distant lately and every other word out of his mouth was either about his new girlfriend or how well his band was doing.

Maddy found herself floundering without her only confidant. She barely even saw him at school anymore as it was. She had tested out of another grade level and they were separated once again by drastically different schedules. She had already lost whatever peace the last year had brought her.

No longer surrounded by what little protection her brother could spare, she was regularly shoved into lockers or walls and tripped while she was walking. Her property was regularly defaced and she discovered crude comments and notes more often than usual. Worst of all, people seemed to take perverse pleasure in stealing her homework and ruining it.

The young woman had only one consolation in this entire desolate place and his name was Logan Reed. He knew Josh through their band and she had met him one night when he came over to practice a song. He was always so nice to her. He often smiled at her when he saw her in the hallways and sometimes if he was nearby when it was happening, he would tell people to leave her alone or help her gather her belongings that had been strewn along a hallway.

Logan was older than her, but not by much. She thought he was very handsome and smart and she liked talking to him. Some days he was the only person to talk to her and she eventually found herself imagining what it would be like to kiss him.

Maddy was only fifteen and he was her first crush after all.

…

It was just a cough.

Maddy rubbed at her chest as she tried to study. Her mother was working late in the hospital and her father was passed out on the couch in a dead sleep so he could be ready for his own graveyard shift at work later on. She had no idea where her brother was, though suspected he was either busy with Kara or his band—possibly both—somewhere.

Zoe was the only other one in the house awake at the moment, but she was busy eating the meager meal that Maddy had been able to prepare for her. It was usually just the two of them most nights and though Maddy enjoyed cooking, it was difficult to please a child with the flavorless protein concentrate and synthetic seasoning. She tried her best to make it edible, but she thought her sister was just humoring her as she took a big bite.

Another cough coursed through her and Maddy felt a strange pain surge through her chest. She figured she had just made herself sick with the crying she had done after school—it had been a particularly bad day and she could not have stopped the turbulent emotions from breaking free if she tried. Today was not even the first day for her to fall apart. All throughout the week she hid in her own bed and cried silently beneath the covers.

Maddy was beginning to feel more and more helpless every day. Everyone else was too distracted to notice. It was okay though, because the last thing she wanted was for them to get involved. Her family was struggling. She could see it every day in the way her parents greeted each other and how her brother was always absent. It would only become worse if they had to deal with her problems on top of that.

Abandoning her studied for a moment, Maddy washed her face for any lingering traces of tears for the third time and retrieved a bottle of pain medication from her mother's medical kit. She took a few pills with a sip of water, sighing when she realized that she had managed to work her way through almost half of the bottle already. She had been taking these pills almost every night, so it should not be surprising. If she had better control of her emotions, maybe she wouldn't be in pain so often to need them.

Glancing at the mirror, something caught her attention before she could walk away. Her shirt had shifted enough that she could see the bruises on her chest. She winched s she touched the tender skin, the deep tissue bruises obviously attributed to her bullying. She was being pushed roughly into walls and other solid objects hourly after all and her shoulders and her back were all just as bruised. She hardly had a chance to heal before more were added.

Maddy was sure they would go away eventually. She just needed to keep them covered until then.

…

Maddy first saw the advertisement when she was looking through a science magazine on her plexpad. It took up three whole pages of the magazine, bedazzling with bright flashing colors and bold lettering that caught her attention as it was meant to. She had seen the advertisements for Terra Nova before. Everyone had.

Terra Nova was the last hope that humanity had for survival as a species. It was the last hope the whole world had. Each year Hope Plaza offered a lottery that would sponsor the winner and their immediate family to go through the time fracture as opposed to being recruited by the government.

The time-space fracture was discovered here in Chicago by some scientists who had been conducting subatomic experiments less than ten years ago. It had redefined science itself and turned reality into one real life science fiction novel about time travel and alternate realities. The portal led to eighty-five million years into the past, to the alternate time stream of an amazingly pure world free of the pollutions that damned this one.

Going to Terra Nova was the ultimate dream for anyone. There was not a person alive on this earth who did not crave to go there and Maddy was no exception. So few people were ever actually chosen to go there—the population of Terra Nova had yet to even reach one thousand and it probably wouldn't be there until at least two more pilgrimages were sent through the portal.

Most everyone went had to be recruited. Her mother even recently said she spotted the recruitment people asking for personnel files at the hospital. They were searching for doctors, scientists, farmers, military officers… people with practical skills and knowledge to help provide the new building blocks for recreating civilization. The random lottery was the only chance the masses had at going there, even if it was a slim margin of hope.

Maddy knew that her parents applied to win the lottery every single time a new pilgrimage was announced. There had been nine to go through the time fracture and the Tenth Pilgrimage was set to go through within the next year. Six months before that the recruiters would select their people and the lottery winners would be announced, so people had time to go through intensive psychiatric evaluations and medical tests to ensure everyone was… adequate.

This advertisement was different though, because it had nothing to do with the lottery.

It was a contest.

**SOLVE THIS EQUATION FOR THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME!**

_The Weaver Corporation is celebrating their success of winning the security contract for Hope Plaza by sponsoring one lucky family for the ultimate, all-expense pin trip to Terra Nova. The winner and their family will enjoy special accommodations in the colony as well as many other prizes. _

_To apply, simply fill out the form and follow the instructions below. Submit your finished equation by the deadline and the contestant who either solves or is closest to solving is our winner! Good luck to all applicants._

_No purchase necessary. Legal residents of the 67 United States of the age majority in their jurisdiction of residence at the time of entry only. Ends 5/1/2149. To play and for Official rules, including odds and prize descriptions visit the Hope Plaza or the Weaver Corporation official websites. Void where prohibited._

Maddy was instantly intrigued by it.

Each issue of this magazine always had little equations n them. Some were for contests with small prizes that most people couldn't afford, but many were just mind exercised for fun. Some were even designed to be unsolvable. She usually played around with these equations anyway as a way to keep her mind occupied. It was calming on days she just felt the world was going to crumble around her.

Many times when the next issue came around with the answers and results, Maddy was either correct or very close in her deductions. Even on some of the more difficult puzzles. She was good with numbers and theorems and puzzles. Sometimes it felt like all she had, expect for a lot of old books and a penchant for talking too much in ways that annoyed everyone around her.

This equation would definitely take her some time to figure out, though she supposed it couldn't hurt to enter. There was not a lot of information supplied to help solve it and she had never seen one so complex before. She doubted she even stood a chance against the millions of people who likely subscribed to the magazine too, people who were probably smarter than her, but she was of the age majority, just eligible to enter, and she really did trying to solve these puzzles.

It was a nice dream, no matter how unlikely it was that her solutions would be the most accurate.


	2. Satisfied and Empty Inside

**Escape with My Heart**

_II. Satisfied and Empty Inside  
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Josh found her at home after the incident. He knew that he hadn't exactly been the best brother in the world recently and he had no real excuse for his behavior either. He was ashamed to admit that he couldn't actually recall the last time he and Maddy had been together for more than five minutes at a time. However unintentionally, he had been pulling slowly away from his socially awkward sister in order to spend more time with his friends and his girlfriend.

The growing distance between them was his own fault and today he regretted it more than ever with everything in him. He only had a few of the details of what happened today and not one had come from his sister, so he wasn't sure he could trust what he knew. He had been hearing whispers all day long—people he barely tolerated looking at him and laughing to themselves. He imagined this was what his sister felt like all the time, small and singled out, but the way everyone was acting worried him.

Josh had been in the locker room after gym class when someone finally let slip what was going on. His back was to the three boys who chatted among themselves, unaware of who he was and why this particular conversation should be censored around him like everyone else had been doing. He stilled the moment he heard the hateful words uttered by his classmates, his hands shaking with fury and fear as he listened silently for a few moments.

"The freak is finally gone!" someone whispered smugly with a snigger.

"Someone finally broke her?"

"I heard she was crying," another boy laughed. "Like some baby crying for its mommy."

"You should have seen her run, man. It was awesome!" the first one told them. "Her knight in shining armor completely wrecked her. I doubt she'll show her face again anytime soon."

"Maybe she finally took a hint!"

It could have been about anyone. He knew at least twelve people in his own classes lone that were referred to as freaks or losers to most people. He actually prayed it was someone else, but he could feel it in his heart that they were talking about his sister. He knew they were talking about the single most incredible person in this thrice damned school—the one they treated worse than dirt because they were intimidated by her intelligence and her compassion, because even they knew she was extraordinary and they could never mount to half of her.

Maddy made most scholars look like uneducated apes. She could leave this school and go to college if she wanted to. She retained knowledge better than he could memorize songs, better than anyone he knew could learn anything. He could go to her with a question about almost anything and she could give him answers in such intricate detail that it made his head feel like it would explode from so much information. She was so damn smart and she was tortured because of it. It made him sick that someone so special was treated so horribly, that his own sister feared coming to a place she once dreamed about.

Josh slammed his locker door shut in a fit of rage, spinning in place to round on the group of despicable boys. Two of them appeared to recognize him and began frantically tugging at the sleeve of their friend, but the other apparently failed to notice the intensity in his approach as he crowded them.

"Do you know what happened?" He asked tightly, controlling his voice as best as he could.

"Yeah man!" the blond, the one who started the whole conversation, spoke up enthusiastically, ignorant of how his friends were trying to get him to stop talking. "Some guy set the freak up big time! He was being all nice to her and shit for months, playing the hero and pretending to like her. I was actually fooled for a long time too, but then earlier, he and his friends dumped a garbage can over her heard in the lunchroom! You should have seen it, it was epic—" His grating chatter was cut off abruptly as a fist collided with his face.

Josh had never been known for violence before. He was average enough, but his last growth spurt had made him look a lot more slim and gangly than before. He worked out with simple routines that gave him some definition, but not very often. His father had even taught him how to throw a proper punch, but all of the instructions simply fled his mind in his fury. His hand ached something terrible from punching all three of those assholes, throwing all of his weight into it. They had attempted to retaliate, though he was quicker and managed to walk away with only a small taste of blood in his mound.

Nothing could compare to the pain he felt in his heart for his sister though. He would endure it all if it meant she was alright.

Maddy was usually so strong. She took shit from everyone, including the teachers who were supposed to protect her, and never once let any of them know just how much it hurt her. He had been called names before and it had stung enough that he had strived to avoid placing himself into such positions. His sister did not have that option—she could not stifle her whole personality and underwent torment every day because of it.

Josh knew how much it hurt her, although she had become adept at hiding it from even him. He often dealt with the aftermath of the cruel games people played with her, but she held her head high and put on a smile so their parents remained as ignorant as possible. Knowing that those sick bastards—the ones who tried to break her down every day, who sent her the notes she horrifying notes he had discovered she had to throw away every day—they finally got to her and it scared him beyond words.

Josh searched the entire school for his sister. He knew all of her usual hideaways, such as the library and the small alcove in the art room that no one ever really went into to. She usually went there and called him if it was a really bad day. His search was not limited to those places though and he scoured each floor and classroom, interrupting ongoing classes without remorse, until it became apparent that Maddy was nowhere to be found on school premises. So he left the building without another thought. He would probably get into trouble… he probably already was for assaulting his fellow students anyway though. Considering the damn faculty never did anything to keep people from assaulting and harassing his sister, he didn't really give a shit.

It took him twenty minutes to get home. Josh cried when he found her.

Maddy was sitting on the floor of the bathroom when he entered, her dark hair tousled and soaking wet from a shower. She was only wearing a small towel around her and he sucked in a horrified breath at what he saw. She usually wore long sleeved shirts, but now that her shoulders were bare, she had bruises littering her skin that varied in a disturbing array of colors and that was only from the one side he could see. She was staring blankly at the wall in front of her. He was terrified, because in her hand was an empty bottle from his mother's emergency medical kit.

"Maddy," Josh breathed out, his voice strained as he fell to his knees beside her. She looked up at him and his heart completely shattered at the helpless look on her face. He wrapped his arms around her carefully, unsure if he would hurt her with all of the bruises she had, but he needed to hold her. He had to make sure she was real, to feel her tremble in his arms and bury her face into his neck. He could feel warm tears against his skin and released a choked sob of his own.

Maddy cried for what seemed like hours. In reality he only let it go on for a few moments. He was still all too aware of the situation and he _needed to know. _He should have called for an ambulance the moment he saw her, but he was too shaken at first to even search for a phone. The bottle in her hand was empty though. He knew their mother kept everything well stocked in case of emergencies, so there was a very large possibility that… that Maddy had… He needed to know how many his sister took to end her pain so he could inform the paramedics. He steeled himself for the worst, swallowing as he found his nerve.

Josh pulled away from her with great reluctance, cupping her face as he stared into her tearstained eyes. "Maddy… how many did you take?" he pleaded urgently. She sniffed a bit, her nose running as she cried, but she only frowned at him in confusion. He swallowed several times, trying to say the words through his own tears. "The _pills _Maddy—the _pills,_ how many of them did you take?

Maddy released a watery laugh as realization flashed over her features. Her laugh was void of any humor despite her efforts and it worried him even more until she shook her head. She smiled thinly and handed him the bottle without a word, gesturing to the label stretched around it.

_Acetaminophen: take two every four to six hours as needed for pain._

"Two?" Josh read out loud, scarcely hoping to believe it. He gave her a serious look, searching her face for any hint of deceit. "Is that all you took? Just two?"

Maddy nodded slowly in answer, gently touching the center of her chest with a grimace. He could see the traces of another faint bruise on her skin there, though it looked nowhere near as bad as any of the others. She seemed to hurt there the most though. The coil in his stomach loosened only a fraction as he processed the information. His sister had tried to end her pain, but only the physical pain. She hadn't tried to… He collapsed beside her, carefully wrapping an arm around her.

"Oh, thank God." He whispered against her hair.

For hours neither of them could find the will to move from that spot and they just sat there, their tears finally drying as they tried to calm down. She finally fell sleep against him around the time that schools would be getting out and he carried her to their shared room and tucked her into the covers of his own bed before crawling in beside her. She rarely did this on her own anymore. It was his fault that she felt the need to stay away, but right now he was the one who needed to draw comfort from her.

Josh held her close and just breathed in the scent of her hair as he broke down. "I love you, Maddy…" he whispered into the crown of her head, vowing to himself that no one would ever do this to her again, would never make her feel like this. If something like this happened again… he swallowed as he realized that next time, there might be no misunderstanding.

It could be real and Maddy would be gone.

Maddy forced him to swear that he would keep it all quiet the next time they woke up. He swore to secrecy in reluctance, unable to deny her when she looked up at him with red eyes and a heart wrenching expression, but only after he finally got her to explain what happened in her own words. Her explanation left him reeling and seething and his sister said nothing else after that for the rest of the night. He let her sleep in his bed more for his sake than just hers, mind lost in a haze of betrayal and infuriation, but it was all overpowered by the need to keep her safe in his arms.

Josh covered with their parents, citing that she was sick. It was not exactly difficult to face, because after all of the crying she had done, she was congested and her nose was bright red. Even their bother believed the lie and she was a highly gifted doctor, but it could have been more to the fact that Maddy never lied about anything so they had no reason to suspect.

Both of their parents just assumed that Maddy's sudden silence was due to a sore throat. Josh knew otherwise and he almost wished they would see through the lies and confront him about it. He wanted to keep his sister safe, but she made it rather difficult by omitting just how badly she was treated.

Josh was not certain this was a secret he could keep..

…

Josh returned home the next day after school with a notice of academic suspension for the next three days. His knuckles were all torn and bloody and his mouth was split open, but he felt a grim satisfaction that Logan Reed had to be airlifted from school and hospitalized with a broken jaw and internal bleeding. His father ranted about assault charges and lawyers and his mother looked at him with disappointment, but he could care less about any of that.

Maddy returned to school within a week of the incident. She was resigned and hopeless and still as quiet as a grave. She had not spoken for a whole seven days and it was so unlike her that he would do anything to hear an explanation on some scientific fact that lasted for over an hour just to hear the sound of her voice. He felt lost without it.

Once the suspension period was over, Josh skipped two of his classes on his first day back to escort his sister to hers. He glared at anyone who so much looked at her, threatening them his presence. By the end of the day, the school body had effectively received the message. Word had spread about his assault and no one was willing to tempt fat to cross him, especially not since Reed was still in the hospital.

A month passed quietly; too quietly.

Maddy never said a word. She had become increasingly withdrawn as each day went by and usually only answered direct questions with shakes or nods of her head. Her behavior was more obvious now that she could not fake an illness and their parents were growing worried. Josh managed to dissuade them or distract them whenever they tried to talk to her about it.

No one went near her at school though. Everyone avoided her entirely. Although the situation was still far from ideal, it was certainly better than before.

Logan reed refused to press charges or to identify Josh as the attacker, despite the fact that all it would take to have him arrested was a simple yes or no answer. He refused to even look at Josh during the several meetings between their respective parents, looking more guilt ridden and remorseful than upset about his own pitiful condition. He transferred to a new school a month later and Josh would be all too happy if he never had to see him again.

Good riddance.

Josh had to admit that all of the disappointed frowns from his mother, the angry tirades from his father and even the emotional negotiations with the lawyers and the Reed family meant nothing to him. Not compared to the sight of the slight, barely noticeable smile his sister gave him once the dust had finally settled. She smiled at him that night when they crawled into bed and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you…" she whispered to him, speaking for the first time after an entire month of silence. It was the sweetest sound he had heard in a long time.

Josh was unable to stop from crying again and begged for her to stop turning him into such a crybaby. It was ruining his macho image. She only giggled softly and allowed him to hold her throughout the night. He had his sister back. He would never let anything else happen to her again... not if he could stop it.

No one would touch her.

…

Maddy was slowly beginning to come back to herself. She was still more reserved now. She kept her head down and her mouth shut for the most part and it was a startling contrast compared to her usual rapid fire of comments and facts. She just… didn't feel like talking much anymore. She rarely spoke unless spoken to first, not even at home, but she was working on it.

Moving passed this metal blockade she had developed was proving more difficult in practice than in thought. She was trying though, so that had to count for something.

Josh tried constantly to cheer her up and she loved him for it. He watched movies and documentaries with her that she had always loved but knew he loathed. He told some of the most obnoxious and ridiculous jokes in order to elicit a smile out of her. He put on plays with Zoe like they used to do, using dramatic voices and costumes. He even began subscribing for the monthly issues of the science magazines she liked to read.

It was nice and she enjoyed every effort. She liked when he would just sit with her and absently pick at the strings of his guitar while she studied the best though.

Music had a certain healing quality to it.

Maddy was currently curled up on the couch for such an afternoon, just reading the magazine on her plexpad while her brother played his guitar. She came across the advertisement again, the one about the contest for change to go to Terra Nova. She was actually a bit surprised to see it was still there, having forgotten all about it after her own failed attempts to solving it months ago. She had never encountered a puzzle so difficult to solve that she abandoned it entirely before. Usually she could at least get the gist of it, but she barely even understood what this one pertained to and nothing seemed to make any sense.

It was confusing and aggravating, but Maddy realized the deadline was swiftly approaching. She decided that it couldn't hurt to give it another try. If anything, she could use the distraction.

…

Population Control had paid their house a visit.

Maddy had barely spotted them on her way home from school one day. She knew they could have just as easily been going anywhere, but the fact it seemed they had been stationed outside of the apartment building for days now seemed like too much of a coincidence to ignore. She warned her parents immediately and within hours they had taken the necessary precautions to hide any trace of Zoe from the house while their father smuggled her out.

Zoe was given to their grandparents and would be hidden with them and their uncle out of town in the same remote safe house she had been born in. It would be good for her to be around other people for a while too, with cousins her own age. She would only be gone a few days or perhaps a week, just until this mess cleared over and no one would be the wiser.

As anticipated, the population officers came knocking specifically on their door only two days after that. It had been a surprisingly peaceful visit, so unlike the many stories of where the officers would ransack houses within minutes in search of children. This visit was calm and the inspectors took their time and had all been very courteous.

Maddy thought that perhaps their kinder attitude was due to the fact that her mother had graciously let them into the apartment. She offered them drinks and told them to take as long as they needed to, because they had nothing to hide. Her father had been downright pleasant throughout the whole inspection, joking around with the population officers as if they were his buddies from his own precinct. Maddy and Josh had simply milled around their room doing homework and playing guitar respectively as the officers calmly searched the house.

Thirty minutes later the officers wished them all a good day before departing and everyone nearly broke down in relief. It could have been worse, so much worse than that. They were very lucky to have the time to prepare for such an encounter.

Maddy knew that had she not seen them outside days before they actually came, they would have been caught unawares and Zoe would have been found. She hated to think what could have happened, because she knew her father never would have stood by and just let it happen. He had a bit of a temper when it came to protecting his family and she could easily imagine him assaulting one of the officers and being imprisoned.

It could have broken her family apart.

Maddy and Josh overheard their parents talking that night, their voices carrying through the quiet apartment. They were worrying and speculating on just how much longer they could all continue like this. Most families had enough of a hard time in this economy with only one child let alone three of them. Many never even had to know the struggles they went through, especially not what might happen if the police came to take one of them away.

Just to be certain they were in the clear, it was decided that Zoe would stay way for at least two weeks. It was just a short term plan. Population Control may have been pleasant and amiable during their previous visit, but they could still be watching the house for now.

Zoe was though… for now. It was unrealistic to not expect there to be a next time or several more after that even. As Zoe grew older, it would only become more difficult to conceal her. She was growing quickly and would soon crave companionship beyond her own family, an education more than what they could teach her in secret, love and other things they alone could not provide. She could not love her entire life in solitude; eventually she would have to make herself known.

There was no plan for the future.

…

Everyone was a bit subdued the following weeks.

Zoe would be gone for at least three more days yet and her absence was sorely felt by all of them. It just felt wrong not to see her face waiting at home every day, her gapped tooth smile begging to watch old cartoons or to read books. This deep, hollow chasm her absence created in their hearts was just a small taste of what it would feel like if Population Control discovered her next time.

Maddy knew it was a long shot to win that contest, but she felt desperation beginning to take hold. Terra Nova truly was the only hope her family had at staying together now. No one from the recruiting office seemed to be terribly interested in her mother, despite her qualifications as one of the top physician in her field.

The equation was solved to the best of her ability and once the submission was sent off, she prayed for a miracle to happen. It was hard to stay positive, knowing her chances. She had no idea if she had even come close to solving it, but at least she had finally figured out what she was trying to elucidate. It had taken her several long hours into the night before Maddy realized that the equation pertained to the time fracture itself.

Hope Plaza had never released the intricacies of the project to the general project before, so it was only understandable that she had been so confused by it before. Although in hindsight, considering the prize for finishing the formula was a one way trip through the portal, it should have been obvious. Once she was able to think of the equation in that context, it all made much more sense even though it was nothing but a theory. She was able to go back and rewrite a majority of her previous attempts until she came to one she was satisfied with.

From what Maddy had been able to gather with her research on the subject, the time fracture had always been there—invisible and inactive, but _there_. The story was well known to everyone, how scientists accidently discovered the time fracture during a lightning storm. They did not make it out of some time machine, but it was a natural occurrence. From then on the largest particle accelerator in the world had been built in order to expand the fracture, to dilate it into a portal so they could send matter through. They turned it into a doorway for people to simply walk through, although one issue they had encountered was that the portal only went one way. Another was that radio contact could only be established between the two sides when the portal was open.

It was all very confusing and quantum physics were extremely difficult to theorize let alone put into action, but Maddy believed she had developed a basic understanding of how everything worked. If her mathematical theorems were correct, the formula she had submitted could be very important if it actually worked. It was a way to communicate through the time fracture without the use of the channeled energy from the particle accelerator to open it.

Essentially, in theory, the formula in the puzzle could create a way to connect the past and the present via video and radio waves _without _shutting down entire cities to fire up the machine to open the portal. It took a lot of power to generate the circumstances necessary, enough that Hope Plaza could only afford to do it once every year. If it worked like she thought it did, that meant it could save millions of dollars in expenses and constant communication could be maintained between both sides.

It was all a bit outlandish though.

Maddy was probably wrong in her theories. Hope Plaza had been trying to fide a way to communicate with Terra Nova without opening the portal ever since the first man, Commander Nathaniel Taylor, had been sent through over seven years ago. If the scientists had already found the way, then it would have been announced. They wouldn't hold the results, give out half of their discovery for anyone to see and then hold a contest to see who could match it… would they?

No. No, it was impossible. No one had ever even come close to bridging the gap between realities before. Maddy was only sixteen-years-old—how could she even hope to compare to the millions of experienced scientists who had likely entered this contest as well? It was a nice dream, one that she certainly prayed for, but it was unrealistic.

Maddy would never win…

…

Maddy felt a bit nauseous and dizzy. The pain in her chest was akin to something heavy weighing down and creating too much pressure, preventing her from getting enough oxygen. She had been coughing all day long during her classes, so much that her teacher had given her detention for disturbing his class. She'd barely had enough energy to even just sit there at all, let alone argue the unfairness of it, so she took the undeserved punishment without complaint. She had already been to see the nurse, but the woman had been too busy with a bunch of boys who had gotten into a fight to really bother more than a once over with her.

By the time she had begun the long walk home, Maddy was completely out of breath and her chest was aching worse than ever before. She rubbed gently over her sore chest as she trudged up the apartment stairway. She hoped she had not managed to pick up a virus of some kind, because she had a test in the morning that she had been studying all week for.

Maddy struggled to the top of the stairs, severely out of breath and barely to continue down the hallway. She forced herself to move anyway and braced herself against the door when she finally reached it, just breathing to try and recover. She coughed again, the pressure in her chest now hurting almost like someone was searing the inside of her lungs with a branding iron. She had been sick in the past, though never anything like this—she hoped her mother wouldn't overreact when she found out.

Unlocking the door with a shaky hand, Maddy entered the apartment. Her mother was at the table with a plexpad in her hand and Zoe beside her when she walked into the kitchen. She tried to smile at them, listening as her mother uttered a quiet greeting, but Maddy could say nothing in reply before she coughed again. She covered her mouth with one hand, coughing again and again and again. She continued to choke on air, panic rising within her as she found herself unable to stop.

Maddy bent over with a grimace, a bit of dizziness starting to blur her vision. Her eyes watered as she choked, her lungs burning as if they were actually lit ablaze. Her mother hurried to her side when it became apparent that she couldn't stop coughing, rubbing her back and whispering instructions in soothing words, but nothing helped. Her voice was distant even, barely understandable over the hacking noises.

It took several minutes before the chokes began to abate and by then she tasted something coppery and metallic on her tongue while she tried to calm down from the fit. She breathed through her nose in long, unsteady breaths just as her mother instructed.

"Are you alright, sweetheart?"

Maddy swallowed the odd taste while she slowly shook her head. She still felt dizzy, the edges of her vision obscuring more now even though the fit had ceased. She felt something wet against the palm of her hand and her stomach churned when she identified it as a red, viscous substance. Blood… she was coughing blood. She tasted it and could see long drips all the way down her arm, could see small splatters all over the floor below her.

"Mom…" she croaked uncertainly, distantly hearing the older woman gasp as she too noticed. Her mother looked completely horror stricken, arms curling round her as she finally lost all sense of equilibrium.

…

Jim Shannon always considered himself a strong man. He was a detective who worked in the narcotics division, so he had to be strong otherwise he would crumble against some of the criminals he had to face. He only had one weakness… and that was his family. He wasn't ashamed to admit that. He could even admit that he had cried during the birth of each of his children and that he worried constantly about their safety and happiness. He was a father, their father, and he loved them all more than anything in this world.

He had never felt so helpless before.

No one in the entire building would tell him anything either. He had been waiting here for over five hours and still all he knew was that his baby girl had been hospitalized because something was wrong with her lungs. His wife told him that she had stopped breathing during the ten minutes it took to get her to the emergency room. Elisabeth was wearing hospital scrubs because her own clothing had been painted red with splatters of blood.

… Blood their daughter had been drowning in.

Maddy looked so unlike herself right now, so abnormally pale. She had inherited the same golden complexion that her mother possessed, though right now she was white as a sheet. She had tubes and wires obscuring most of her face, one thick tube lodged down her slender throat and several small nodes attached to her barely moving chest. She was hardly recognizable now and he swallowed thickly as he reached out to touch her still hand.

Jim was startled by just how cold she felt. He drew her small hand into his and cradled it gently, eyes watching her chest—it moved up and down slowly as the machine breathed for her. He felt so out of his element, wanting to help her in any way he could, but he could only wait and watch. He brushed a finger against her inner wrist and pushed down, the sluggish pulse and the beeping of the heart monitor his only assurance that he was not looking at a corpse.

It hurt so much to see her like this.

Hours passed in agonized silence as they waited for the test results to come back. His wife was sitting across from him on the other side of the bed. Elisabeth had her eyes glued to the breathing device, constantly watching her vitals for any changes at all. Josh was at home watching Zoe, trying to keep her entertained and from asking questions, but he was messaging anxiously for updates on Maddy's condition every few minutes.

After what felt like an eternity the doctor finally returned with the test results. Jim barely understood half of what the man was saying. He heard it all as if listening from a distance, his frown becoming more pronounced as certain words jumped out at him—_rebreather malfunctioned… acute respiratory distress… lung failure… hemorrhaged… low oxygen… life support._

Everything was a meaningless mess all jumbled inside of his head. His own unease only increased, especially as his wife grew more and more distressed from everything the doctor was telling them about the situation. She was a doctor herself and understood the terminology that just went over his head and made him feel numb. She knew what was wrong.

Elisabeth snatched the plexpad containing their daughter's medical file right out of the doctor's hand before he could even finish explaining. Her fingers slid across the screen in a frantic rhythm as she overlooked the results herself. It took her all of two minutes to read it and then the device fell to the floor with a loud clatter as she turned and buried her face into his chest. His wife fell apart in his arms and her reaction was all too telling.

Jim clutched her close as the doctor expressed his condolences and cited that he would be back to discuss options at a later time before giving them some privacy. Neither of them even acknowledged him as he closed the door behind him. They were too lost in their own turmoil to even notice.

They stood there in silence, listening avidly to the humming of the machinery… which was the only thing that was keeping their little girl alive at the moment.

…

Maddy was released from the intensive care unit after two months on a mechanical ventilator with supplemental oxygen to breathe for her. She still had to be watched very carefully the entire time and in another part of the hospital after that in another oxygen rich atmosphere to help heal her incredibly weakened lungs. Her doctors were worried about fluids building up in her lungs, so they monitored her critically.

Josh had been coming to visit her every chance he got and he was nice enough to keep her updated on what was going on outside of the hospital. He made a point to come by every day and today he brought some news she had some mixed feelings about. He said that population control had done another sweep of the apartment, due to an anonymous tip from someone within the complex.

Zoe had successfully been hidden within a small compartment in the walls of their apartment by the time they arrived, but thankfully they only glanced inside before moving on to the next module. It had been a very close call, especially since Josh had been the only other person in the house, but they had survived it… again.

Everything just seemed to be getting worse and worse, that small reprieve of the past few months nothing more than a distant memory already. Maddy knew that her hospital bill would be incredibly high and was only continuing to gather more fees the longer she stayed. Her mother had a decent salary as one of the chief surgeons and her father likewise had moderate income, but she knew it would not be enough to last forever. She had already been treated longer than they could afford.

Maddy knew her parents were trying to hide their own worries from her, but she could see it etched on their faces every time they came to visit her. They had spent money they didn't have in order to keep her alive and now they had to spend even more to keep her that way.

… Perhaps it would have been better for her family if she had just died.

…

Elisabeth was accustomed to receiving devastating and shocking news. She had to learn some disheartening test results daily in her profession and deliver the prognosis to the distraught families of her patients. She had never really had to be on the other side of that door though, waiting anxiously to find out the fate of a loved one, until her daughter arrived home choking on her own blood.

It took a lot to shake her; she had to keep a calm persona even under duress. She had relocated appendages without blinking, waded wrist-deep in blood and human innards and had even done autopsies on cadavers before… but she had crumbled entirely the day she discovered her daughter's illness. She had treated patients for it in the past and it very rarely ended on good terms. She never really thought that it would happen to her own family. She never really realized just how bad everything had become until the day Maddy came home coughing up blood though.

It was an eye opening experience, one that frightened her irrevocably and forced her to see the truth. The world had deteriorated beyond repair without her truly taking notice and people were dying because of it. Elisabeth had become absolutely terrified in the past weeks that Maddy would simply become another statistic, just another young victim succumbing to the poisonous air of humanity's own making. They had did this, every generation adding more and more to the destruction of their own species, of everything… and soon there would be nothing left. She feared her daughter would stop breathing again, that her weak lungs would fail again or her heart would give out from malnourishment.

Keeping Maddy alive had been her only goal for the last few months, ever since she first became ill. She had called in many favors in order to have her daughter seen by specialists and to have the best medical treatment possible available to her. She had not been thinking about the expenses at the time… only about improving Maddy's chances of survival. There was nothing beyond that.

Nothing else had mattered.

It was now three months later and Maddy was finally stable enough to be released from the hospital. She was stable if not completely healthy… and if her circumstances didn't change within the next few years, Maddy would likely have to become dependent on medication for the rest of her life. That was only assuming if she stayed in perfect health. Even developing a cold could be deadly to her, because it had the potential of becoming pneumonia… and her immune system was already weakened and she was underweight and anemic… Elisabeth what would happen when she was removed from the filtered air environment of the hospital.

Before this incident Elisabeth could have afforded to move her family into a hyperbaric dome—an oxygen rich environment—but that was before the oxygen therapy and the long stay at the hospital. Elisabeth and Jim had been discussing their options for a while now, wondering just how they could possibly pay off the enormous medical bill they had received. Prescriptions, a new state of the art rebreather and a new air filter to create a completely sterile environment within the apartment they could barely afford to keep any longer… every penny added up considerably.

Elisabeth was incredibly grateful to her parents and brother for helping with the treatment costs. Maddy would not have been strong enough to breathe on her own had they not donated to covered the amount as best they could for as long as possible. Even with her family pitching in, with relatives and friends sending what they could to help them make payments, she and Jim had been forced to take more and more shifts at work to try and cover the rising fees. Josh had begun to search for a job of his own to help, but she feared that even that would not be enough.

None of it would ever be enough, not to pay back what they owed and to survive at the same time. She had never been so desperate before, so helpless to help her family. Elisabeth prayed for the first time since her childhood. She prayed every night for a miracle, for a way for them all to get through all of this somehow. And today… today she got one.

Elisabeth had been speaking with the finance people at the hospital, trying to work through a better payment plan to ease the situation enough so they could afford groceries. She had not understood what the financial assistant was saying at first. She thought she misheard what they were trying to inform her of.

Never before had Elisabeth been so taken aback before. She had sat there for a few moments as the words sunk in and the next thing she knew she was being roused by smelling salts after fainting. She had been overwhelmed by the news and after confirming another time, grabbed everyone she saw in a tight hug, wondering _who… _before this day, her faith in humanity had been teetering on the edge of a knife, slowly tipping away into almost nothing… but now it felt completely renewed. She cried on the way home, eager to tell the news to her family.

An anonymous donor had paid their medical bills in full.

…

It was May now.

Nothing had gotten worse and Maddy was well on the way to recovery. She would always have problems with her lungs, but at least now her family could afford to buy both her medication and their living expenses. She could be content with that. She only wished she knew what kind soul had taken enough pity on their situation to pay such a large amount to ensure her survival. No one seemed to know the identity of whoever paid her medical bills, but it was the greatest gift anyone could have given her family.

Each passing day Maddy could feel her strength returning to her. Her health only just continued to improve and she felt better than she had in years with the aide of her new medications and the cleaner air in the apartment. Due to her slow recovery rate, she had also not attended school in the past few months, but she had never been more at peace. No classmates to ridicule her, no disagreeable teachers to punish her… She pursued her education in the comfort of her own home. It was just her and the work. Maybe one day she would return to a classroom, but for now she was pacified with learning on her own.

Maddy could not even find it in her to be terribly disappointed when she heard no announcement for a winner of the contest she entered. She had known her chances at winning were slight to begin with. Even though she had been hoping against all odds that she would win, she was satisfied for now because everything seemed to be working itself out. She could always try again next year if they held another contest. And she knew her parents would be entering the next lottery… there was always the chance that her mother might be recruited for Terra Nova also, even though they had not been interested this year. Only time would tell. For now everything was okay.

It was still not a long term plan… but it was all they had.

…

Everything changed on a Monday afternoon.

Zoe was hidden safely within her secret compartment in the wall when the knock on the door came. They had been expecting it because Josh had overheard some strangers mention their apartment number only moments before downstairs. They only had a few minutes to prepare, but they had been planning for this. No trace of the child could be found and Zoe knew that it was time to play the quiet game. Still… Maddy was having difficulty trying to control the rampant pace of her heart. She sat on the couch and tried to appear as if nothing was wrong, but her bother must have noticed the glint of worry in her eyes.

Josh rubbed her back gently as they all waited, cringing when the knock finally sounded throughout the room. For a moment none of them could move. This would be the third time Population Control had paid their home a visit. They might do a more thorough search because of that, the kind whispered about by families that had been torn apart.

Maddy resisted the urge to flinch as her parents moved toward the door. Her mother was the one to open it. She was the one most likely to keep her cool in a crisis and she was nowhere near as threatening as her father. He could be cordial when he needed, but there was still something in his countenance that some people found intimidating. Her mother was more unassuming and gentle.

"Hello," her mother greeted brightly. "Can I help you?" Her voice ended with a hint of surprise and confusion and as she opened the door further, they all could see why.

The men outside their door did not belong to Population Control. They were in suits, not uniforms, all clean shaven and presentable. One man, the one in the front, was a bit portly—that in itself was very telling on the fact that he ate well. He had glasses resting precariously on the bridge of his nose as he swept the room curiously, seemingly searching for someone.

"Hello ma'am," the man greeted kindly, a wide smile spreading across his face. "May we speak to Ms. Madelyn Shannon, please?" His eyes finally came to rest upon Maddy as he said it, flashing with recognition. He already knew what she looked like, who she was, and she felt a momentary burst of panic at being singled out by this stranger.

Maddy stood from the couch, tense even as her brother moved to join her as she approached cautiously. His presence helped ground her and outwardly she displayed noting but curiosity, even though inside she was trembling. What did they want with her? She hadn't done anything wrong. She tried to remember that as her parents stepped aside so she could stop in front of the open door way. The man simply held out something for her to take, a wide smile on his face.

It was an envelope, her name written across the paper in elegant script with beautiful emerald ink.

Just seeing the paper was a shock, because _paper _was so rare and expensive. Her heart jolted when she took it in her hands, noting that this was much finer quality than the recycled papers she had. Her parents bought her a stationary on her birthday one year. It came with ten sheets of paper and ten envelopes. This put the recycled scraps she cherished to shame.

The envelope was thick, possibly some kind of parchment paper and her breath caught as she studied the seal on the back. It was from the Weaver Corporation… the same people who were sponsoring the contest in her science magazine. Her mind went utterly blank for a few minutes before it began working in overdrive—representatives from such a prestigious company would never travel into a residential neighborhood to simply deliver a letter thanking someone for participating… would they? Her mouth was dry and her eyes darted up to the man, hoping for some sign of confirmation. Could this be what she hoped it was?

"Open it," he encouraged gently, and there was something she couldn't place in his eyes. He seemed almost… pleased… as tremors ran through her hands as she moved to break the seal. She exhaled and dismissed the bit of apprehension she felt, pulling out the letter hidden within.

_Dear Ms. Madelyn Shannon,_

_We here at the Weaver Corporation are pleased to inform you that…_

Maddy could barely continue to read as her eyes began to sting. Her throat closed up and she drew in a shaking breath, the letter growing slack in her hands. She felt it being tugged away from her and absently listened as her father read it aloud for Josh and her mother to hear. She raised a trembling hand to cover her mouth and closing her eyes briefly as she let the words wash over her like they were some kind of cleansing rain.

Absolute joy and relief filled her heart as her brother caught her before she could collapse. She had done it. She… she really had. She won. Her body trembled uncontrollably and she released a weak, breathless laugh as her brother wrapped his arms around her to keep her steady. She clutched him close and buried her face into his neck, smiling and laughing through her tears. Her emotions were erratic, but beyond the disbelief and elation, she felt a hope that she had never truly allowed herself to feel before.

"You won some kind of contest, Maddy?" Her mother asked softly, confusion clouding her voice.

Maddy pulled away from her brother for a moment, turning to look at the older woman. "Yes." She reached out to grab her hand, smiling in complete happiness. "I won."

"What does it mean?" Her father asked cautiously, lowering the congratulations letter. "What is the prize?"

Maddy laughed a watery laugh and took the letter from him, holding it to her chest as if it were a precious object. She looked at her family, smiling at all of the various looks of confusion she was receiving. They were all saved. No more poisonous air, no more population laws, no more long months of hunger that could never be quite satisfied… they would all be safe and healthy from now on.

"… We are going to Terra Nova."


	3. Throw Away the Past

**Escape with My Heart**

_III. Throw Away the Past  
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Time seemed to have lost all meaning through the months leading up to their departure. Maddy could still scarcely believe any of this was truly happening and not some made up figment of her desperate imagination. Everything felt so surreal, as if she had been lost in a dream for the past few months. She feared the day she might wake from it.

Everything had changed so drastically. As another part of the prize, her family had been relocated to a luxurious home in one of the largest hyperbaric domes in all of Chicago for the duration of the wait. It was a completely different environment than the outside world, so alive and colorful compared to the bleak monotone existence they'd had before. It was only a small taste of what the world was like in the past, but perhaps a glimpse of what was to come.

Winning the contest had also gained a lot of attention from the press.

Initially being interviewed on a world-wide broadcast had been a frightening prospect, but apparently the world was receptive to her awkward charm. Everyone across the globe knew all about the sixteen-year-old girl who had cracked the code no one else could. She had been shoved into the public eye for their scrutiny and somehow managed to win them all over. She had flourished during conversations with the people sponsoring the contest, discussing her hypotheses and how she had replicated their formula.

Even her family was interviewed. Her father was taking everything in a stride and not one night passed that he didn't tell her how proud and amazed he was. Her mother had cried during her own interviews with the press as she recounted the details of the medical scare from months ago and how grateful she was that Maddy would have better air to breathe from now on. There were also a surprising amount of people trying to claim that they had been her friend before any of this happened, most of which had actually bullied her at some point. Her brother had taken a great, vindictive pleasure in renouncing all of them on national television, ensuring that none of their stories could be believed.

There had been other interviews as well, more personal ones for psychiatric evaluations. Those had been a bit more stressful because they were being observed by a clinical psychologist who could potentially suspend their privileges and prizes depending on her findings. Thankfully the sessions ended on a good note and they were all approved to travel. Everything had just gone by in one great big whirlwind and tomorrow was the day.

In exactly eighteen hours they would all be in Terra Nova.

…

Maddy watched the particle accelerator begin the process of dilating the time fracture into a tangible portal. She had imagined this moment for years, but she never truly believed she would be standing here. A dream had become a reality and within the hour her whole life would change for the better.

Everything was finally coming to a close. There had always been a great pressure in her chest, some incorporeal force weighing down on her… now it all seemed so insignificant. She could breathe again—and she would breathe in air not poisoned by decades of pollution soon. She would be in Terra Nova in less than forty minutes. Her family would be there too and they would all be free of wasteland, but most importantly… they would all be together.

All they had endured will have been worth it and there would be no coming back.

Maddy felt exhilarated and amazed as she watched the long, slow moving conveyer mechanism begin to transport enormous crates of supplies through the shimmering blue energy that seemed to have a liquescent quality to it. The temporal matter was beautiful, much more than she expected it to be and the portal alit with radiant color as the technicians loaded the crates through. It was now only a matter of time before people for the pilgrimage would begin their own walk through time.

As another part of her prize, Maddy and her family were given special high security privileges so they could go on a grand tour of the entire facility. Security had taken them aside the moments their bags had gone through the mandatory inspection and then they were taken through the most secure operation in the world. It was an incredible experience. She was so thoroughly fascinated with everything and could not seem to stop asking questions about everything around her.

Maddy was in a place that very few civilians ever got to see and she wanted to take advantage of it while she had the chance—she would never be coming back, after all. She practically had unlimited access as well, so it was now or never. Some of the technicians only laughed at her apparent enthusiasm, taking the time to explain just how everything worked in intricate detail. One supervisor had even allowed her to sit at a station and input the sequence to activate the portal. The formula was quite similar to the one she had written to get her here, though much more complicated.

There was, of course, an ulterior motive for asking so many questions at such a rapid pace. Despite how genuine her curiosity truly was, Maddy was also the distraction. Her verbal inquiries and ability to capture and hold attention worked as a brilliant diversion as her father slipped away to retrieve the special package hidden within a restricted area. Their privileges of high security clearance meant that he could slip through doors undetected to switch a bag that had already been through the security checkpoint with the precious cargo they intended to take.

For the past few months, Zoe had been living with their uncle in the country. It had pained all of them to be separated for such a long time, but there had been little choice with the press constantly lurking outside of their front door in hopes of an impromptu interview. All it would have taken is one stray photograph, one little glimpse of her and the world would know of Zoe. It would be worth it in the end though. By tonight this would all be over and they could begin anew.

An old friend of the family who worked as a security officer within the facility owed her father a favor. He was paid to smuggle their cargo inside it in a secure location and he never asked questions. The bag looked like any other nondescript back they had all been given for their belongings—oblong and completely back. Inside was completely unique though, with a small oxygen unit that had enough air for several days and some snacks and water just in case the sedated child inside woke up during the journey.

It took all of ten minutes for her father to make the switch the bag containing Zoe out for the one full of useless clothing and books that had already made it through the checkpoint. He returned with no one the wiser and it had already been decided that she would be the one to carry it through. She was the winner of the contest and had to agree with her parents that if anything went wrong, they were less likely to stop her than the man who had unexpectedly disappeared earlier.

Eventually all of the supplies for the colony had finished going through and it was almost time for the pilgrimage to begin their own journey. Maddy joined her parents, accepting the precious bag carefully. As her father helped her secure the straps over her shoulders, she could only pray that the sedatives would keep Zoe from jostling the bag and keep from drawing any suspicion to what might be inside. It was a bit heavy, but it was a burden she would gladly bear to ensure her sister would be safe. They moved down to the loading area ahead of the crowds congregated behind a security barrier since her family would be privileged to go through first.

Going through the portal was the most unnerving and exhilarating experience in her life. Even just the anticipation of it, of watching her brother walk on ahead of her as the first pilgrim through the portal and knowing she would be next caused her stomach to churn with excitement and apprehension. She gripped the straps of her bag tightly as she watched her brother step into the glossy pool of light as if he were walking through no more than a simple hologram—she would never understand how he could remain so unaffected by what he was doing. She had to gasp out loud when his entire body suddenly evaporated, his body simply dissolving like he were made of dust.

From high above in the observation booth, the portal had appeared to be such a beautiful sight, but nothing could have prepared to see the temporal matter up close. It was nothing less than spectacular. She approached it cautiously, glancing around anxiously to the security officers who roamed the catwalks and the sidelines, the press likewise present to televise the moment their contest winner would leave them for a better life—some people stared on with a deep seated jealousy, others with wide and encouraging smiles, but none of them were stopping her.

_Is this really happening?_ Maddy wondered in disbelief, a small inkling of doubt still nagging at her. For so long things had always taken a turn for the worst right when she had begun to believe otherwise, leaving her feeling defeated and losing hope that anything could ever change. She had been imagining this moment a thousand times over for the past few months and none of the images her mind conjured up had ended favorably. She swallowed and paused directly in front of the portal, her heart pounding wildly within the confines of her chest.

It was a bit hard to believe that taking one more step would take her over eighty-five million years into the past of an alternate timeline. She glanced over her shoulder briefly at her parents, uncertain and suddenly fearful, but they only smiled reassuringly. She drew in an deep, resolute breath and looked back at the shimmering blue energy, trying not to think of the fact that they would be leaving so many people behind. Her grandparents and her aunt and uncle… She would never see them again.

It had been a tearful goodbye, but they all understood that there was nothing she could do to extend the prize to them. It had been for immediate family only with four slots open because _"A Family is Four_." Those words only continued to taunt her even in what should have been the most freeing moment of her life. Her relatives assured that they would continue to apply for the lottery and hope for recruitment, but she had seen it in their faces when they finally said their goodbyes. They had no real hope of ever seeing each other again.

All it would take was this one last step and this world would be forever gone from her life, but never from her mind or her heart.

Maddy shakily extended one hand, brushing against the surprisingly cold substance. She gasped at the cool rush that tingled up her arm as she glided her fingertips across it, creating ripples and waves. She was not sure what she had been expecting, but it was a bit watery yet somehow firm, almost like a kind of gelatinous liquid. She inhaled what would be her last breath of toxic, miasmic air and steeled herself as she finally took the last step.

For one glorious and terrifying moment, Maddy was nothing and everything all at once. Her entire body tingled as if it was being disassembled into indescribable amounts of tiny, insignificant particles and then she was flying—soaring over air and through time and space. It was a completely alarming and disorienting occurrence, though somehow thrilling and incredible.

It was over all at once.

Maddy stumbled down onto her knees unexpectedly as the world came back into focus. She struggled to catch her breath, her hand automatically reaching for the rebreather hanging from her neck, desperate for clean air. Her mind caught up with her a moment later and her hand stilled as she wheezed—she wasn't breathing in noxious fumes that wanted to burn her lungs inside out; she was breathing in air that was too rich, too much for her body to handle at first.

It was overwhelming, the different scents that assaulted her all at once and the purity in the air. She coughed a bit, trying to calm her frantic breathing. She forced herself to instead draw in one deep breath, hold it for a small count and then release it slowly. She repeated the action several times before the dizziness fled and her breathing evened out. She was completely amazed at just how different the air was here. It was something she had known intellectually, but until this moment she had nothing to compare with and this was beyond anything she had imagined.

There was a haze over her eyes, some kind of misty fog obscuring her vision that made it difficult to see. Everything was so bright that she felt blinded by the array of colors burning into her retinas, but there were people suddenly around her, great shadows encircling her. She absently recalled something about medical assistance upon arrival and went willingly as someone grasped her arm, gladly accepting the help because the moment she was back on her feet, her equilibrium was just _gone_.

Maddy was caught by the waist as she began to tumble, forced to rely heavily on the man trying to hold her up. She came out of her delirium the second she realized that someone was trying to relieve her of the mildly heavy bag upon her back. She instinctively pulled away from the attempt, unwilling to let anyone else touch the bag that contained her baby sister. She muttered a protest and stumbled when she freed herself, gaining her footing quickly and blinking rapidly to clear her vision.

"I'm okay," she said quickly. "I don't need help."

Everything came to a sudden halt when Maddy finally felt confident enough to look up without toppling over. Her breath caught in her throat as she realized that the people around her were not the polished and uniformed soldiers depicted in the advertisements. The soldiers of the elite Terra Nova Security Force were regal and refined from what the recruitment videos showed, with their black plated gear and sonic weapons.

Instead these people looked almost wild and feral, their hair ratted in knots and decorated with twigs and feathers. Their faces were painted with streaks of colorful tribal markings and the majority of their clothing appeared to be made from scaled hides. They gave a very distinct vibe of danger, although the weaponry and decorative bones and teeth might have been a contributing factor. Some held small guns, but most of the weapons in their hands were primitive—spears and knives that had to have been made from materials right out of the jungle.

Maddy could not see her brother anywhere amongst the crowd and when she glanced over her shoulder, the portal was nowhere in sight with no sign of her parents or the rest of the pilgrimage. She could not see the device rumored to anchor the portal to a permanent location either; the portal terminus was just not there like it should have been. Her hands shook as she rapidly tried to come up with explanations. She had a feeling that this had not just been an ambush on the pilgrimage, because… she had not arrived with the rest of the pilgrimage. She was somewhere else; somewhere alone and surrounded.

Dread filled her heart as Maddy eyed the long spears and other makeshift weapons, all of which seemed to be aimed at her with intent. She tried to calculate just how many people there were, inwardly cringing as she realized there were at least five men and three women. She doubted she could outrun them if she tried to get away. Her lungs were just too weak to run for long and she had no idea where to go either. Considering the state of their appearances, they were obviously well acquainted with the jungle—far more than she could ever hope to be.

Maddy knew she had no choice but to surrender. She exhaled slowly and raised her hands into the air with reluctance.

One woman instantly began to emerge from the crowd, moving forward to come to a stop in front of the frightened teenager. She had a dark complexion, cold brown eyes and her black hair was pulled into micro braid and over her shoulder. She had a certain presence about her, something superior and commanding attention from all of the others.

"Welcome to paradise," the woman said coolly, nodding her head slightly at someone behind Maddy. "Do it."

Maddy gasped in alarm the moment she felt a sharp sting on the side of her neck. She swung around and acted on pure impulse as adrenalin suddenly surged through her veins. She struck out in one smooth move with the flat of her palm, thrusting it upwards towards the nose of the man who had just injected her with something. She felt the bone give away under the quick pressure and stumbled backwards.

For a moment time seemed to slow down. She stared wide-eyed at the man as he dropped the hypo needle in favor of grasping at his face in agony. She had never hit anyone before. It had been such an instinctive action that she had not even given herself a second to think about it at all. Her hand had simply assailed him in a move her father had once taught her by means of self-defense. She never actually thought she would ever have to use it, not even when she was being pushed around and abused by her classmates… because she had never felt this threatened before.

Heart suddenly in her throat as blood gushed out between his fingers, Maddy was suddenly in motion. She ducked under an arm that reached for her and darted passed everyone as quickly as she could, barely managing to outmaneuver them all. She heard the commotion behind her as they instantly gave chase, but forced herself to remain focused on what was ahead of her instead.

There were not many options for her. Her lungs were already beginning to burn from just what little she had already ran, dodging enormous trunks from the towering trees and jumping over anything low to the ground in her path. She had never run any kind of distance before, never had the need nor had the appropriate landscape to do so. It was much more difficult than it seemed in theory, especially had no real sense of direction.

Maddy could barely hear anything beyond the blood rushing through her ears and the calls and jeers of those pursuing her. She knew she could never get away from them. It was futile to even try, because she was probably running directly into the territory of some monstrous beast that likely feasted upon flesh, but… she _had _to at least try. Her father always spoke about gut feelings and right now she had one telling her that these people meant her harm.

The effects of whatever compound that man had injected her with was already beginning to take hold though, the swift movements allowing it to spread throughout her bloodstream more quickly. She ran and ran until she could run no more, hearing the distant roar of something terrifying in the distance as a sudden lethargy overtook her. She staggered halfway down a hill, tripping over her own feet until she felt her leggings rip on a fallen branch in her path and skinned her knees as she fell to the ground.

Maddy gasped for breath as struggled to stand, crying out when she felt hands on her. She was lifted up without her consent and into the warm circle of muscular arms. She fought weakly, her mind muddled and the edges of her vision darkening as she struggled vainly to get away. She beat her hands sluggishly against his bloodied chest, looking up to see hazel eyes from the man she had previously assaulted peering down at her calmly.

"No…" she whispered, her vision clouding.

"Don't fight it," the man said quietly. "Just sleep."

Maddy wanted to protest again and fight against him, but her limbs felt weak and she unintentionally went lax in his arms as the world around her became disorienting. With one last shuddering breath, she succumbed to unconsciousness.

…

Maddy drew in a shallow breath the moment her mind first began to stir, reluctantly leaving behind the blissful void of oblivion. She was sitting on something cold and hard and her legs were sprawled out in front of her. She felt distressed when she realized she had awoken to complete darkness. She could see nothing, her sense of sight limited to not even beyond her nose. It took her several moments of panic before she discovered that something was wrapped around her head to obscure her vision—a blindfold.

Against her back was a rough surface that grated harshly against her bare shoulders and all the way down the length of her spine. She thought it may have been a wall of stone, tall enough to scrape all the way up the back of her neck and farther above where her hands were tight high over her head. The cords binding her were thick and brittle, unbearably tight around her wrists and rubbing them raw; it left her hands feeling icy, like they were not getting proper circulation and were slowly dying.

Maddy tried to shift as much as she could from the uncomfortable position, only to gasp as aching prickles of pain surged throughout her whole body—it sent sharp pins and needles spreading down every frozen limb. She clenched her jaw in an effort to ignore the painful tingling sensation, trying to concentrate more on her breathing before she had a panic attack and suffocated herself.

Fear of the unknown caused her heart to race with uncertainty. She was having trouble remembering just what had happened, her mind full of a multitude of questions. Where was she? How did she get here? Where were her parents? Josh? Zoe? Why was she so cold? Her memories were so fuzzy; they were twisted and distorted like an old movie on a plexpad. Even as she searched her memory, her mind could only conjure up vague images.

A noise penetrated her thoughts abruptly, an impossibly loud roar echoing in the empty space around her. It sounded far away, although amplified by stone walls. The sound was inhuman, animal… it sounded like a call of a beast. Everything hit her all at once, like a heavy blow sustained to the chest. She remembered.

_Oh… _Maddy trembled against the restraints. The tour, the portal, those people with their primitive weapons chasing her… she remembered everything. She was lost. Her parents and Josh… she tried not to allow herself to dwell on their fate, hoping against all hopes that wherever they were, it was better than here. She felt so alone though… only… she wasn't mind immediately went to her sister. She had Zoe with her here somewhere and all she could afford to think about was finding her.

"Zoe...?" she called out weakly, her voice echoing slightly. It only served to confirm her theory about being in some sort of rock formation… a cave perhaps. Her mouth felt a bit dry and she licked her lips nervously when there was no answer. "Zoe? Are… are you in here?"

There was only silence. She could hear nothing except for the sound of her own ragged breaths.

Maddy bit down hard on her bottom lip as disappointment filled her heart, her breath catching in her throat as her eyes burned with the need to cry. _So close… _They had all been so close to finally achieving some peace. How did this even happen? The portal was only went one place. She should have walked right out to find her brother and a welcoming committee instead of an ambush.

The portal terminus should have prevented this sort of thing from happening. It was an anchor, the machine providing a single destination after that one pilgrimage allegedly materialized within the center of a lake. That was its whole purpose. Maddy should never have ended up separated from the others, because things like this don't just happen… unless…

Someone had to make it happen.

It was the only viable conclusion Maddy could think of. Someone had deliberately tampered with the portal terminus or with something else in order to bring her here. But why would anyone do something like that? Why her of all people? She couldn't even fathom what anyone would want to do with her. She was a sixteen-year-old science geek here by chance, not one of the brilliant minds that were recruited to help populate civilization. Had she just been chosen at random…? Or… or had they really targeted her specifically?

Maddy was drawn out of her thoughts suddenly when she heard a strange noise. It was not the sound of an animal, not like before; instead it was a subtle, repetitive sound that she could not differentiate. She struggled to identify it, but it was cut off abruptly only to be followed by another that began to draw closer. She tensed and swallowed fearfully as she registered the footsteps echoing down the cave.

Something clanged together, like metal upon metal, grating as it scraped along the stone ground. A rush of cool air gusted across Maddy as someone entered the chamber she was in, her cold fingers flinching as a chill went down her spine.

For a long, drawn out moment, the stranger merely observed her. "State your name." A woman said evenly, her voice cool and commanding; she obviously expected a quick reply.

Maddy recognized the voice and drew in a steady breath through her nose as she tried to gauge her options. It was her, the woman with dark hair that had been there when she had first come out of the portal; she seemed to be the one in charge of the people that had taken her prisoner. Maddy could only assume these people were a secessionist group who had deserted the original colony for whatever reason, but even so that still didn't explain what they wanted with her.

Running her tongue over the roof of her dry mouth thoughtfully, Maddy wondered if she would actually be given a truthful answer if she asked for her sister. She was almost desperate to ask, but something told her that this woman was not entirely trust worthy. She seemed cold and calculating, the type of person who gave little thought to the consequences of doing something.

A new thought suddenly occurred to her. If they had yet to go through her bag, then Zoe might not have even been discovered yet. The oxygen unit supplied enough air for at least four days, so as long as Zoe remained inside of it, these people might remain ignorant of her existence for a while. She wanted to ask, but now she was clinging to the hope that they had yet to discover the child.

"State your name," the woman said again, her voice growing agitated with the continued silence. "State your damn name!" She growled loudly. She released angry sigh when there was still no response, Maddy still inwardly weighing her options.

It was probably a bit unwise to be so noncompliant with her captor considering she was still in such a helpless position. She had no idea how long she had been here, but she could already feel the stirrings of hunger gnawing at her belly and her mouth felt too parched. She was entirely vulnerable and completely at their mercy and it was not a good feeling. But… she was stubborn.

"You know," the woman drawled in exasperation. "Your psychiatric evaluations made you seem like you were a pretty bright girl. Your grades alone are a testament to that. So why don't you tell me this… how long can a human being survive without food and water?"

The woman left without waiting for a response this time.

Maddy licked her dry lips and inwardly calculated her own body mass against the statistics. "It could take me as little as two weeks without food to die of starvation," she muttered hoarsely to herself, winching as she realized just how dependent she was on these people right now. "… and less than forty-eight hours to die from dehydration."

Had Maddy been at a healthier weight, she could have lasted up to thirty to forty days without food. Fasting actually used to be a common practice for religious or health conscious people, but it required a sustainable source of water and rather sedentary activities—neither of which she could be sure of. She had no idea what they wanted from her or if they would even provide her with anything to drink after that veiled threat.

Two days and two weeks was perhaps even pushing it, considering how underfed she was. Hopefully she and Zoe would have been rescued before it even became a possibility. Her mother must be beyond worried already and she could already imagine her father scouring the jungle for them after rallying up a search party. She inwardly cringed as she imagined how her brother probably reacted to their disappearance; he had become almost unbearably protective over these past few months.

Maddy tried not to think of how improbable the odds of being found actually were.

…

Hunger gnawed viciously at her stomach by the time the door opened again. Her tongue was heavy and dry within her mouth and she had been in the same uncomfortably position since the last visit with no reprieve. Most of her limbs felt as if they were dying; she struggled to move as much as possible in order to keep her circulation moving to prevent just that, but it was an difficult task.

It was the same woman as yesterday who entered, with the same inane demand. "State your name." She waited for a few moments of silence before she suddenly began to move closer, her footsteps drawing near like an ominous warning until they came to a stop just in front of her. "You are putting me in a very tough position, little girl."

Maddy only continued to breathe evenly. She knew what the woman wanted. It was not just her name. The mention of her psychiatric evaluations yesterday had not gone unnoticed. They somehow had access to those files, which meant they knew everything within them already including her name. They had all of her information. They had her name, her age, her academic transcripts and even her medical files. This was not about the answers… they had no real interest in those because they already had them.

This was about her. She was being toyed with.

"I would rather do this through cooperation," the woman added coolly, the barest hint of frustration tainting her tone. "This is your last chance before I have to resort to more… unsavory methods. State your name."

A few minutes later, Maddy heard a heavy sigh. She could feel the woman as she knelt down beside her and tensed when she felt the hand touch her. It rested on her shin, just below the torn remains of her leggings. She waited as she listened to the movement, a nervous pang growing in her heart.

"Fine." the woman said evenly. "Just remember that you're the one making me the bad guy here."

Maddy cried out suddenly as she felt a flash of pain across her leg, the sharp blade of a knife drawn diagonally across her shin. She clenched her eyes shut tightly behind the blindfold, tugging uselessly against her restraints as she gasped for air. She felt something warm and wet slide from the open wound, beads of blood dripping to the ground from the shallow cut.

The slickened blade was wiped against the fabric just above the wound, cleaning it of the evidence and then the flat of it rested against her skin. It was an unveiled threat of what would happen if she continued to remain silent, if she refused to cooperate and answer that one question. The pain was bearable enough, but the _idea _of more pain was hard to take. Her heart beat wildly in her chest and she trembled as tears stung her eyes.

"Want to give me your name now?" the woman asked, her voice remaining utterly emotionless.

Exhaling slowly and pushing her fears into the depths of her mind, Maddy pursed her lips into a firm line and blinked away the wetness in her eyes. She could read people well enough to understand that whatever these people wanted from her could not be good. She needed to try and buy herself as much time as possible, to think of some kind of plan. She was resilient and resourceful. She would think of a way out of this mess if help never came.

Time seemed to pass at an unusually cruel pace as the interrogation continued. The most prominent question seemed to be her name, but the woman had eventually gotten tired of repeating herself to no avail and began asking different queries. Some were completely mundane questions, other more personal and many were just entirely invasive, but they all had one common factor.

… They all remained unanswered.

Despite the tortuous methods designed to elicit answers, Maddy kept her mouth shut for the most part. Her only exceptions were an occasional whimper or gasp as the knife dug into particularly sensitive sections of skin. It hurt a lot like getting pushed into a wall had, the effect doing more psychological damage than the actual physical wounds were. She was hurting, but it was not quite as painful as it could have been.

Maddy knew her initial assessments were correct with each stroke of the blade. She knew this woman was not doing this to actually hurt her, but instead to scare her. It was the most likely scenario, although that didn't stop her from crying silently by the time the knife had slid across her skin for the eighth time. She had been unable to stop the tears since. She tried to focus on other things to keep her mind off of the pain, but it was difficult.

Considering the fact that they had apparently been reading her confidential files, Maddy was almost certain that she had been specifically targeted now. She just had no idea why. She wasn't quite sure how they managed to separate her from the time stream either. She imagined it would take someone incredibly smart and gifted in quantum physics to be able to relocate an individual midway through space and time, particularly among a group.

It was a bit outlandish to even think that these secessionists had the technological capabilities to do something of this magnitude. From what she could recall after regaining her senses, these people appeared to be tribal and disconnected from technology. She had to wonder if they were truly the ones who orchestrated this or if they were just the pawns of some greater community.

Maddy drew in a sharp breath as she felt another cut join the rest, this one crossing over another already in place and digging it twice as deep. Her leg felt as if it were riddled with hundreds of new wounds now, but realistically, she guessed there were only about twenty or so cuts—long and shallow wounds that caused her skin to burn and throb—but they weren't exactly lethal. She would probably still be able to run with only a little difficulty if the opportunity arose… and if her lungs held out.

"You are a lot more strong-willed than your profile led me to believe," the woman admitted with aggravation. "I figured you would be easy to break."

Maddy swallowed tightly and flexed her numb fingers.

"You do realize that you're only making this a lot more difficult than it has to be, right? I don't exactly enjoy hurting little girls who probably haven't even had their first kiss yet."

Beneath the blindfold, Maddy frowned at her for the jab. It was probably supposed to humiliate her, because that seemed to be what the woman was aiming for, but perhaps her kidnapper needed to rethink her strategy for the long commentaries she gave in between cuts. After some of the pain and humiliation Maddy had suffered, she was pretty sure she could endure a bit more of it.

This was mild compared to what Logan Reed had put her through emotionally months ago.

"I bet you're thirsty by now," the woman said, apparently deciding to switch tactics since torture had yet to yield anything. "Just give me your name and I'll get you something to drink."

Maddy swallowed again, her mouth feeling particular dry now that her attention was on it. She had felt the thirst all through the night and had been doing her best to ignore it, but Maddy wasn't going to tell her that.

The woman stood abruptly. "Fine," she hissed, moving away. She opened whatever barrier seemed to be between this chamber and the rest of the cave, the metallic scratching loud and grating as ever in the silence. "Get in here!" At her angry words, heavy footsteps echoed closer until they came to a stop near the entrance. "Do you have a problem?"

It was a man who responded. "… No."

"Good. Get inside," she snapped, and after a moment, the footsteps grew closer. "I am locking you both in tonight. She doesn't move. No food. No Water. She stays restrained and blindfolded until Carter or I arrive tomorrow. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

Maddy trembled fearfully as she listened to the door being moved back into place; the final _clank _echoing throughout the cavern and sealing her inside with the stranger. She was acutely aware of his presence as he moved around on the opposite side of the cave without a word. There was something decidedly more frightening about being trapped in here all night with a man than the psychotic woman who had just spent hours torturing her.

Minutes dragged on without anything of consequence happening and the tightness in her belly gradually released. She could hear strange noises coming from his direction, but couldn't even guess what he might be doing over there. She wondered why he had been locked inside as well.

Maddy knew intellectually that the man might just resume where the woman had left off—trying to force answers from her unwilling mouth. He never came near her though. He stayed on the other side, not once taking a step in her direction. She found herself easing in his presence in if only slightly. She could concede that him being in here might be for his own protection.

Outside of this cave the world was foreign, completely alien and it had the potential to be potential to be deadly. She had to admit it would be the perfect place to build a prison, right in the heart of carnivore territory. Even if she did manage to escape, something could snatch her up before she got very far.

Maddy only hoped she was wrong.

…

Maddy could feel something soft and moist against her face as her mind slowly came into awareness. She was confused and extremely tired, her eyes fluttering as she felt the damp cloth suddenly retreat. Her eyes opened just as the blindfold was lowered black into place, catching only a glimpse of the man crouching beside her before she was once again encompassed in darkness. She sobered up in a single breath, abruptly feeling wide awake and twisting her body to get away.

"Whoa, easy," he said, sounding startled himself. "You're going to hurt yourself doing that."

Hysterical laughter bubbled up in her throat before she could stop it—she was already hurt. She could not seem to calm her racing heart either. Her skin flushed white wit panic at having him so close to her, inwardly cursing herself for mistakenly allowing her guard to drop for even a millisecond. She had just been so tired, despite her best efforts to keep herself awake.

Unable to retreat even just an inch with her back pressed up against the rough stone wall behind her, Maddy cringed instinctively when she felt him touch her. Calloused fingertips had barely even grazed the injured leg before the limb involuntarily jerked away from the foreign touch. She clenched her eyes shut tightly as he grasped her ankle to hold it in place.

"Try not to move," he said, and she was stricken by the kind tone in his voice. He was going to hurt her some more and he was being nice about it? It scared her to think he was capable of being so callous. "This will probably hurt a bit, but it will feel better in a little while."

Maddy winced with anticipation, biting down on her lip as he touched the first wound. He was surprisingly gentle, seemingly taking care not to push too hard or place is hands anywhere other than below her knee. She was quiet and immobilized with confusion as he began to assessing her injuries. She tried to make sense of it, but her mind was oddly blank at the feel of his touch.

"These are pretty shallow," he informed her, although she knew that otherwise she would have passed out from blood loss while the woman had been present. They were more like deep scratches than anything else. "Do they hurt badly?"

"Yes," Maddy answered without thinking. She had dozens of cuts crisscrossing the length of her lower left leg; lying would have been too obvious. She paused a moment later, inwardly grimacing as she realized that she had unintentionally broker her own vow of silence, but the damage had already been done.

Maddy drew in a quick breath as she suddenly felt something move over the multitude of cuts. She sighed in relief at the cool feeling that spread over the heated flesh, dulling the sting og pain slightly. He was washing the lingering traces of blood away with a wet rag and she unwillingly found her apprehension lessening under his attentions.

Moments ticked by in silence as the man worked. He was oddly dedicated to his task, his quietness allowing her to mull over what his angle might be. She was still a bit lost in thought as he began to finish up, first applying some kind of fragrant, herbal salve over the wounds once her leg was all clean and then binding it with a soft, dry cloth. He was still crouched beside her, rustling with something on the ground when he finally finished.

Maddy seized in renewed fear as he shuffled closer.

"Open your mouth," he said quietly.

Horror flooded her veins as she could only guess what he intended, Maddy struggling away from him with revived vigor. Her head knocked painfully into the solid rock behind her, her head ringing with his words as the tender skin of her wrists stung from pulling at her bindings. She kicked out violently, her feet knocking uselessly against the ground as she fought.

Petrified fear clogged her every sense, but she heard him suddenly release a soft curse through the blood raging through her ears. He quickly moved away, withdrawing from her until there was a considerable distance between them. "No! Not… I… water," he told her urgently. "I meant for water, not for…" She abruptly stilled her attempts to get away, scarcely willing to believe him. "… It's just water."

Maddy tried to process what he was saying.

Uncertainty and doubt filled her chest despite her considerable thirst. She could not be positive that he would actually give her water, especially since he had been instructed not to. _It could be a trick_, she reasoned. Even if he did offer her some, there was still the chance that it could be laced with something… or that he would expect something in return for it. She wasn't sure which concept was more frightening.

Clenching her eyes shut behind the fabric that kept her blind, Maddy desperately wished she could look at his face to assess if he appeared sincere. He sounded sincere, almost horrified even as he guessed what her initial speculation of his intentions had been. She felt so helpless like this and she was hesitant to trust anything he did without skepticism. She bit down hard on her lip as she fought with herself internally.

There was no surefire way to gauge just how long she had been here already. She thought perhaps at least a day and a half or possibly even longer, but she couldn't be sure how long they had kept her sedated. She was already beginning to feel sick from dehydration and she knew that if she didn't drink something soon, she would be at a severe risk of her body failing her. She could die if that happened.

Death was not something that Maddy had ever feared in the past. At one point in time the thought of finding peace had even been comforting, but dying could not be an option. Not here, not while her sister needed her to get them out of here. She had yet to experience any hallucinations that she knew of, but her skin did feel a bit irritated already and her tongue was strange and heavy.

Maddy was so thirsty and she didn't know what to do.

Unfortunately before Maddy had time to truly consider her options, the man took her silence as acquiescence and began shuffling forward once more before she could think to protest. He was slow and cautious; she could feel the heat of his hand near her face as he hesitated to touch her. She had a brief moment of panic when he finally did and her body tensed automatically in preparation to lash out again.

Something cold and rounded, like the rim of a cup, settled upon her dry lips and then something mercifully wet sloshed against them next. Her tongue darted out to test the substance before she could stop herself. Relief surged through her when it registered what she tasted was water. All thoughts of poison or sedatives or any consequence fled her mind as the chilled liquid flooded her mouth. She swallowed it all down eagerly, savoring the cool rush of it down the back of her throat.

It was unlike any water Maddy had ever tasted before. She could detect no purifying chemicals or dust like the heavily filtered water she was used to drinking. Instead this was crisp and refreshing, untainted by years upon years of pollution and processing. It was glorious and she tried to drink as much as she could of it, whimpering in protest when he pulled the cup away before she could finish drinking her fill.

The man only shushed her gently. "You need to slow down," he told her. "If you drink it too fast, you're only going to make yourself sick."

Knowing he was right, Maddy nodded grudgingly with a shuddering breath. He offered her more and she tried to drink it slower than before. Her chest felt cold from the water as it settled down into her stomach, but it was a good kind of cold. He stayed there for several minutes, allowing her to sip at as much as she could until she finally began to feel a bit better.

"Here," he said once she was finished, and she felt him press something small and yielding against her mouth next. She pressed her lips together uncertainly as the scent of something rich and perfumed assaulted her nose in a pleasant sort of way that made her stomach rumble, but she was still reluctant to accept anything else despite the kindness he was showing. "It's food," he promised.

Maddy hated herself for being weak and tentatively opened her mouth after an internal debate, but the hollow ache in her stomach outmatched any reservations she had. She could feel him pull away as her teeth closed around the small object—it was soft and moist and it broke apart easily between her teeth. She quickly deduced that it must have been some kind of fruit, the juices bursting over her tongue as she chewed.

It was sweet and full of amazing flavors she could hardly describe. She could only guess that it was a native fruit and not something that had been brought through, because it was unlike anything that her father had ever managed to snag on occasion. She winced at that thought, pushing him out of her head before she could dwell on the wide smile ingrained in her mind and the wide, comforting arms she longed for.

Swallowing the food gratefully, Maddy repeated the same procedure when he offered her another piece of it. She was fed in silence and she honestly had no idea what to think of this man by the time her brain caught up with her. He had all of the power here. She knew it and he knew it.

Maddy was completely defenseless against him. She knew what to expect from the woman at least; questioning, hostility and pain. His actions were the complete opposite and were confusing her… she didn't it. This had to be one of those planned out scenarios and he was just doing this to confuse her on purpose.

Although she was honestly grateful for the water and the food, Maddy couldn't help but suspect that this was some kind of ploy to earn her trust. She knew better than to be fooled by some kindness. She had learned that lesson the hard way once before and she would never allow herself to be deceived like that again.

"Do you need something for the pain?"

Maddy felt something else against her mouth before she could even consider the question. She could feel the general shape of it—tiny and oblong—and deduced it was some kind of pill. Her leg still throbbed terribly, though not as bad as before the salve had been applied and her entire body ached from being immobilized like this for hours. She thought about it and seriously considered accepting, but she did not know what it was and wasn't willing to risk it this time. She shook her head reluctantly.

The man gathered everything in silence. "Let me know if you get thirsty or hungry again," he said a while later, retreating back to the other side of the cave.

Maddy spoke before she could stop herself. "Why?"

It was a loaded question if there ever was one. Why was she here? Why did he disobey the order to deprive her of food and water? Why did they bring her here? Why was he being so kind to her? Why were they doing any of this? Why did he have to confuse her? Why did everything have to go wrong when she had finally begun to believe it was going right? Why? So many questions…

The man never answered her.

…

Agony rippled through her stomach when Maddy woke next. She writhed instinctively against her restraints as she drifted back into consciousness, unkind streaks of light flashing across her vision when she pried her eyes open. She snapped them shut against the fanatical colors that blinded her, nausea rolling violently through her belly.

Maddy could barely even breathe as acid and bile clogged the back of her throat, her gag reflex stimulated and causing her to heave helplessly. Her wrists had more feeling in them than before, she realized dazedly, but it was a small comfort compared to the terrible ache in her stomach, like something tearing her apart from the inside. She whimpered miserably, gagging and choking for to catch her breath.

Someone was beside her instantly. "Shh, you're okay," he said to her, his voice uneven and shaking, but the tone was somehow comforting. She blinked heavily, shaking her confused and muddled head in response to his words. "Just… just take deep breaths. Everything will be fine."

Everything felt _wrong_. She trembled, feeling sick and feverish. Her mind drifted back to the water and the food. Had she been tricked? He was there in front of her now and she tried to track him through the confusion as he grasped her bound hands, loosening the restraints even more until the cords fell away completely.

Maddy slumped forward, forced to lean heavily on him for support. She was belatedly disappointed that the urge to _run _was not nearly as prominent as the one to bend over and choke. She whimpered again, pushing him away as it happened, her body rejecting the food and water from before. Her skin felt slick and cold and her back automatically tensed as a warm hand settled on the center of her back, resting between her shoulders and moving soothingly down her spine.

Resting her forehead against the stone floor of the cave, Maddy weakly spat the lingering traces of the taste from her mouth to join the rest. She felt a bit better now that everything had been purged, but only by a small margin. "Why…" she croaked out, feeling too weak to resist as he carefully pulled her away from the disgusting mess.

Arms curled beneath her knees and around her back without acknowledgement to her broken words. Maddy was then lifted into the air and carried to the other side of the room, placed on a ridged cot opposite of the wall she had been tied to. She wanted to fight, but she could barely even manage to push at his chest as he sat her down on it.

"No," Maddy said quickly, turning away from the cup he tried to place at her lips. She glared up at the gray eyes staring down at her, belatedly realizing that the blindfold was off. He had dark cropped hair that was currently in disarray and thick eyebrows. Although he was dressed in rags much like the others she had seen, his clothes were seemingly the remnants of an olive green shirt and camouflage pants all in tatters. She narrowed her eyes accusingly at his concerned face. "… You drugged me."

The man blinked, a frown forming between his eyebrows before understanding clouded his features. "No." He shook his head. "No, I didn't drug you." He disappeared for a moment and she turned her head to watch him return where she had been five minutes prior. He retrieved something off of the ground and returned a moment later, draping it across her as he urged her further down onto the cot. It was a warm jacket and in the cold air it felt nice. "I shouldn't have given you the food."

Maddy frowned up at him in confusion as he placed a cool rag over her forehead. "What?"

"Your body is pretty malnourished," he explained gently, wiping the feverish sweat from her skin. "Everyone is supposed to be placed on a special diet of protein shakes that have all the correct nutrients to balance your diet in preparation for richer foods… I thought the fruit would have been mild enough, but…"

Maddy studied his face in search of any sign of deception. He seemed… completely sincere, but she couldn't be certain. She had to admit that it was a plausible excuse. She had even read about the nutritional shakes in the welcome pamphlet months ago, so it could have merit as much as loathed s she was to admit it. She felt more confused than ever.

Turning away to look around, Maddy discovered that she was indeed inside of a cave just as she suspected. It was a rather small one with an entrance that was completely barricaded with a solid door. It was made of some kind of undeterminable metal, something dark and matte, but obviously strong. She winced as she spotted a hood embedded in the wall across from the cot, her wrists stinging as she recalled being strung up and hanging from it. She could also spy a small table at the foot of the cot, discarded remains of a purple fruit lying abandoned beside a small bag.

"Do you feel any better?"

Maddy looked back up into his eyes and frowned at him. She felt a flash of surprise surge through her when he winced slightly under her scrutiny, not quite sure what to take from it.

"… I promise there was nothing in the food I gave you."

Maddy closed her eyes as they began to burn unexpectedly. She felt the cool rag wipe away the hot tear that escaped from the corner of her eye against her will. She was not even sure why she was crying right now, but she couldn't prevent the flood of emotions from overtaking her. She was grateful that he did not acknowledge her crying—he just wiped the tears away for a few minutes until she regained control.

"… Do you need more water?" he asked, and she immediately shook her head. "… You could just use it to wash the taste out of your mouth if you don't want to drink it."

Maddy opened her eyes distrustfully. She fought with herself for a moment, the sour, acrid taste coating her tongue. She was reluctant, but nodded slightly. He reached over to the table and retrieved the cup, ignoring the involuntary flinch she gave when his hand slid behind her neck in order to help her sit up. She took a small sip, swishing it around her mouth for a moment while he put the cup back and picked up a dirty bowl instead. She spat out the water as he held it in front of her, the taste still there but no longer as prominent.

"There you go," he said softly, laying her back down. "Try to get some sleep, okay? It will still be a few hours until someone comes back here."

Maddy blinked heavily at his words, suddenly realizing just how tired she felt. She knew there was no chance of escaping right now. The metal door was secured shut and she had no way of getting it open. She would have to wait a bit longer, but she was running out of time. She imagined they had probably gone through the bag by now, though she still prayed that her sister remained undiscovered until she could get them out of here.

Heavy thoughts weighing her mind down, Maddy closed her eyes reluctantly.


	4. Am I Made of Glass?

**Escape with My Heart**

_IV. Am I Made of Glass?  
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It was with great reluctance that Maddy awoke the next morning. She wanted to block out the sound of movement, to remove it from her consciousness and pretend that yesterday was all just a nightmare. Instead she opened her eyes and found herself staring languidly up at the ceiling of the cave, a soft light illuminating the rough to smooth textures of the rock formations.

Curiosity tugged at her mind as she listened to the soft clanging noises. She slowly turned her head, stiffening the moment she caught sight of who it was. He was standing near the table by the foot of the cot, stirring something in a bowl quickly. She recognized him from the profile view—dark wild hair, coarse stubble down the length of his jaw and a rather noticeable bruise beneath either side of his eyes.

Maddy swallowed and recalled breaking his nose.

From what she could guess judging by the departing words the woman said last night, this man was named Carter. She wasn't quite sure if she felt safer with him knowing she was responsible for the bruises on his face or with the woman who had spent hours torturing her for answers she already knew.

Considering that Carter had yet to actually harm her, with the notable exception of injecting her with something from a hypo needle, she was perhaps a bit more comfortable with him. It was a bit odd that she found herself more comfortable with two strange men who could easily over power her than she did with the psychotic woman only a few inches taller than her.

At that thought Maddy frowned a bit.

A quick glance around the cave confirmed that the other man, the one who had been here with her throughout the night, was nowhere to be seen. She felt strangely anxious knowing was gone, her heart pounding within her chest as she realized that she was alone with someone who could possibly want revenge for what she did to him. At least the other one seemed her no real harm. Her eyes slid passed the man intent in his task to the wide open door.

"Extremely bad idea," the man said abruptly with a sardonic smirk, not even bothering to turn way from his chore to look at her. She inhaled sharply, staring at him. "You could try to run for it, but considering we're dead-smack in the middle of nyko territory, you wouldn't make it far on your own before one decides to take you out for lunch. Not to mention you are probably as weak as a newborn kitten right now after the night you had."

_Nyko…?_

Nykoraptors were carnivorous creatures, not unlike the velociraptors of the Cretaceous period of the world before. From what little she had read on the subject, they were quite vicious when it came to hunting their prey. They usually ate the eggs of other dinosaurs, but they did have a particular taste for flesh as well, their three rows of incisors perfect for tearing into skin and cleaving through bone.

Shifting into a sitting position cautiously, Maddy gave the door one last considering look before conceding that he was right. There was a cold sweat secreting from her skin, her muscles felt weak and strained and even just sitting like this made her feel a little lightheaded. She doubted she could get more than ten feet before she collapsed, less than that if a nykoraptor caught scent of her.

"Drink this." He approached with something in his hands. It was a small cup. "It's just broth. You're so malnourished from all of that synthetic shit back there that anything richer will just make you sick again."

Maddy eyed it warily, unsure if she could actually trust anything from him after what happened last night. She must have hesitated for too long, because he soon grew impatient and simply grasped her wrist with his free hand. He ignored her frightened flinch, only placing the warm tin cup in her hand without a word. He grabbed another one from the table and sat on the stool beside the cot.

"You should really drink it." Carter told her firmly. He eyed her over the rim of his own cup as he took a long gulp. "You've been here for over two days and I'd rather not had to force a tube down your nose just to make sure you have something in your belly." He tilted his head back and simply waited.

Frowning at him distrustfully, Maddy peered down into the contents of the cup. It was a diluted golden color with fresh green flakes floating inside. She slowly lifted it to her face, inhaling the scent of it with trepidation. It smelled… good. Her stomach gave a rebellious rumble and she sighed inwardly, giving him another wary look before she took a tentative sip.

Nodding sharply in approval, the man said, "Good girl."

Maddy scowled at him before she could stop herself.

"Now, now little Kitten," he drawled, his eyebrows rising and a smirk on his face. "Retract those claws. "He tapped the side of his own nose carefully. "You already got me once. Nice move by the way." There was a genuinely appreciative tone in his voice that took her aback. "A hint more of pressure and you might have actually killed me. You're pretty strong for such a delicate little thing."

Maddy frowned at him and simply sipped the broth in silence. She had to admit, if only to herself, that it was probably the best thing she had ever tasted besides the fruit from last night, despite the fact that it was clearly watered down compared to his. She drank it slowly though, unwilling to show him just how much she appreciated it under his watchful dark eyes.

"Your leg should be fine," he added a moment later, filling the stillness of the cave with his own chatter. "Reynolds did a piss poor job of fixing it up last night. I rebound it this morning and it will probably smart for a while, although the scarring should be minimal enough."

Maddy glanced down to the leg in question. She was surprised to see just how efficient the bandage was. It was something she would expect to see from someone with medical training, not someone who lived out in the jungle. She looked back up at him curiously, wondering for the millionth time just who these people were exactly. She supposed most of them had to have been recruited and recruitment always searched for the best of the best… or perhaps someone had rigged the lottery.

A loud noise beyond the door startled her before she could contemplate further on her theories. She glanced at the man, but he seemed entirely unconcerned by the disturbance, sipping at his cup leisurely as he propped his feet up on a free section of the cot beside her. She inched away from him, turning to look as footsteps echoed down the corridor.

It was the other man who entered, the one she recognized from last night. Reynolds. He entered the cave swiftly and with a weapon in hand, some kind of sonic pistol that he quickly holstered as he quietly shut the door behind him. He paused the moment he realized she was awake, his eyes lightening into a light blue as one corner of his mouth tilted upwards, but he faltered immediately and as the other man turned to him.

"Is the coast clear?"

Reynolds tore his eyes away from her and nodded sharply. "For now," he replied. "Everyone else is in place. We have a thirty minute window, but we should probably leave now if we intend to reach camp before nightfall."

"Alright," the man said gruffly, tossing back what was left in his cup before he rose to his feet. He reached for the bowl he had been working with earlier and held it out for her. She eyed it curiously, not sure what to make of the sludge in the bowl. It smelled strong, pungent even, but somewhat fresh. "Rub it on your chest." He advised, noting her confusion. "It is a bit like eucalyptus and should help with your breathing just until we can get you to your medication."

Maddy pressed her lips together and grudgingly reached into the bowl, gathering a little of the mush onto her fingers. It felt oily, not watery like she expected. She brought it to her chest and smeared it on, the almost minty fragrance filling her lungs. She was surprised at how refreshing it was, breathing it in slowly.

Carter discarded the bowl and held out a hand for her, raising an eyebrow. "Time to go for a walk, little Kitten."

Maddy stared at the hand uncertainly.

"Should…" Reynolds began hesitantly. "Should I get the ropes?"

Maddy tensed at the question glancing down to her raw wrists. She clenched her jaw at the thought of being bound again, strung up like some animal to be led on a leash. She looked back up when there was no answer, only to find dark eyes regarding her in a thoughtful way that made her feel anxious.

"No," Carter said after a lengthy pause. "No, don't bother. She'll behave."

A sinking feeling erupted in the pit of her stomach at his meaningful look.

Reynolds looked at the other man with a frown. "How can you be so sure?"

"… Because we have something that she wants now," he replied without looking away from her. He raised an eyebrow again, tilting his head in question. "… You'll behave, won't you Kitten?"

Maddy had to look away from his knowing gaze, tightening her grip on the cup forgotten in her left hand to hide the fact that it was shaking. She closed her eyes briefly, her heart aching and she wanted to cry again. She had been hoping Zoe would remain undiscovered for as long as it took her to find a way out of here. She had to admit though that since chances of escaping seemed so slim, it was probably better that they had found her because the snacks and water in the bag had probably all run out by now.

Nodding slowly in answer to his question, Maddy reached out and placed her hand into his with reluctance. He pulled her up, steadying her when legs trembled and she nearly collapsed to the ground. He took the nearly empty cup from her hand and set it aside, giving her an approving nod.

"Good girl."

"… Where is she?" she asked hoarsely.

Carter gave her elbow a small pat. "You'll see her soon."

Maddy released a shuddering breath in frustration.

"Do you think you can walk on your own?"

Maddy could feel her knees ready to give out again at any moment, gripping his arm as he held her up for a moment. She nodded her head stubbornly though, not wanting to show just how weak she was in front of them. Taking a deep breath, she released her hold on him and lowered her arms to the side. She was able to stand on her own at least. She took a tentative step forward, pain surging through her stiff legs as a breathless gasp escaped her.

Arms wrapped around her middle before she could crumble to the stone floor, Carter hefting her back upright with a soft grunt. "Easy Kitten," he said brusquely, his arms the only thing keeping her upright. "You must have strained a muscle when you took off the other day."

"I'll carry her." Reynolds volunteered, taking a quick step forward.

Carter gave him a harsh look, but the other man met his eyes unflinchingly. "… Fine."

Maddy only stared down at her boots, her hair tumbling over her shoulders and forming a veil between her and them. The last thing she wanted was to be carried by either of them. She felt just as weak now as she had when she was bound and blindfolded, just as helpless and alone. She hated this feeling of having to be dependent on these people to take care of her.

As the younger man moved to grasp her arm, Carter made his way to the table to retrieve the few items he had left sitting out before moving toward the door. She shivered unpleasantly as a gust of cool air wafted through the cavern, gooseflesh erupting over her bare arms and shoulders. She curled her arms around herself, biting down on her bottom lip as she waited for further instruction.

"Here," Reynolds said abruptly reaching around her to pick something up from the cot. She leaned away from him, but watched as he brought it up for her to see. It was a jacket, the same one he had draped over her throughout the night. She half-half wanted to tell him that she didn't want it when he shook it open, presenting it to her. "It gets pretty cold out there in the mornings."

Maddy nodded slowly, urged by his prompting and another chill causing her to shiver again. She slid her arms through the sleeves with his help, the fabric practically swallowing her as she buttoned it up. It was obviously made for someone his size rather than hers, her hands covered by inches of material, but at least it was warm inside. She pulled it tight around her small frame as if it might protect her from the world.

Reynolds swept her up into his arms with little effort. "Put your arms around my neck," he told her quietly.

…

Enormous trees emerged from the ground in every direction, completely towering over everything in sight. The leaves cast shadows upon the ground, making the dense forest seem even thicker than it truly was. Only small bursts of sunlight illuminated the tall grass whenever the wind rushed up through the trees.

It was an amazing and beautiful sight, but Maddy could not bring herself to admire any of it considering the circumstances. She felt completely powerless, her arms looped loosely around the man's neck for balance as he carried her through the forest in silence. His own arms were curled around her back and beneath her knees, effortlessly keeping her stable in his strong arms.

Maddy could only gnash her teeth together to keep from saying something that might anger one of the men. She wanted to fight them. She wanted to get away from them. She had eyed the weapons on their bodies more than once, seriously considering trying to break free, but could not pluck up the courage to act so irrationally. She would just be placing herself and her sister into more danger than they were already in.

All she could do now was wait until they finally reached their destination.

Carter led the way from the small mountain range at a brutal pace. The cave had been a confusing labyrinth of mostly natural passageways nestled upon a large rocky outcropping, but everything beyond that was nothing but jungle. He seemed to know exactly where he was going though, never once stopping to look around to confirm the direction.

Reynolds was able to keep up even with her burdened in his arms, following the same swift pace. Neither man had spoken since they had emerged left the cave behind, seemingly too intent in getting to this camp of theirs as quickly as possible. She was all too willing to let them keep their silence.

From what Maddy could determine by the moss around her and the positioning of the sun when it was visible, they were headed south-east away from the mountains. She could barely keep track of where they were now and everything looked the same to her in her exhausted state, but she expected that they were moving further and further away from anyone who could rescue her and Zoe.

It was an estimated three hours into the journey when the forest began to thicken even more, the canopy heavier and the trees clustered together around them and casting an ominous dark shadow upon everything in sight. A sound nearby caused both men to stop in their tracks, all eyes going to the bushes ahead the leaves rustled slightly.

Carter began to fall back beside them as he raised his gun, while Reynolds relaxed his gentle grip on her suddenly, lowering her feet to the ground. She almost protested as he released her, her own arms tightening around his neck as fear began to clog her senses. He only reached up and loosened her frightened grip, turning his back to her as he drew his own weapon.

Maddy had the most foreboding sense as she caught sight of their faces. Both men had their mouths set into grim lines as they pressed in close around her and she seized as a high-pitched trill echoed through the shadows around them, sending shivers of terror down her spine. Her heart pounded as she frantically searched the bushes for whatever was there. Another came from across the way, followed by yet another just beside them.

"Damn it," Carter hissed slightly, taking a half-step forward with his weapon aimed. "There's more than one of them."

A cold sweat trickled down her neck as Maddy saw a dark shape move out of the corner of her eyes. She gasped out loud, instinctively latching onto the man in front of her, tangling her fingers in his shirt as she inched closer. She opened her mouth, wanting to ask what exactly was out there stalking them, but she was silenced by another haunting trill as it cut through the tense stillness.

Carter directed his aim up toward the canopy as a cascade of leaves rained down on them. "They're tracking her scent," he whispered grimly, his eyes moving down toward her bandaged leg.

Maddy looked at him with wide eyes, her breath catching in her throat. She clenched her hands tightly, shaking her head desperately and wanting to deny it. Something brushed against the back of her leg as if to confirm his words though and she whipped around unsteadily, crying out and stumbling back against Reynolds as the shadow darted away and disappeared.

Reynolds and Carter began to open fire instantaneously, the loud sound of gunfire ringing in her ears. A flash of eyes that seemed to glow in the blackness caught her attention just before several shapes leapt from the trees to surround them. One of the creatures leaped directly in front of her. It had ridges all above the eyes, wide nostrils and an elongated face. It was taller than her, even as strong and powerful legs obviously made for jumping remarkable heights bent in preparation to pound.

_Nykoraptors_, she realized with a gasp as the bright eyes peered up at her from the crouched position. It had feathers and follicle growth all along its body, spanning out at the narrow end of the strong tail in a wide fan. Sharp teeth gleamed in the enormous mouth as the long claws extended threateningly. The creature snarled and abruptly launched itself toward her.

Maddy could only stare, frozen in fright.

Strong arms secured around her middle just as the jagged teeth neared her face, her body pulled roughly into the chest of Reynolds as he took aim. Her eyes clenched shut as the gunshots cut through the air in front of her, blood splattering over her front as the creature released a high wail while it was felled. She felt dizzy and sick when she opened her eyes, spying the dying nykoraptor on the ground at her feet.

Staring in horror at the sight, Maddy was blindly allowing the man to pull her backwards even more, trying to block out the sounds of the gunshots and more of the creatures descended upon them. Shots rang out right beside her head, the arm around her waist tightening as the other extended out to fire upon the shadows leaping out to get a clear run at them.

Everything fell eerily quiet a moment later.

Maddy cautiously allowed herself to hope that the horrible incident was over. She took stock of everything around her, apprehension tight in her belly as she noted the dead bodies of at least seven nykoraptors littering the floor of the forest. And then quite suddenly there was a lightning quick flash in her peripheral vision and she reacted without thinking.

Reaching out to grasp the wrist of the arm extended around from behind her, she corrected the direction of the gun. Reynolds pulled the trigger just in time and she flinched as the sound of the gunshot burst near her ear, feeling the recoil of the weapon as if she had been the one to pull the trigger.

The creature tumbled to the ground with a hole between the eyes, staring up at her as the light left its eyes and blood tricked down the snout None of them could move for one long, tense moment, all listening hard for any traces of more movement.

Maddy was breathing harshly, her heart pounding so hard that she feared it might actually burst from her chest. She could feel the rapid drum of another heart against her back and hot puffs of breath spilling across the back of her neck. The hand resting on her stomach spasmed slightly and Maddy trembled as her mind caught up with her.

Reynolds tightened his grip on her to keep her upright as she trembled and gasped for breath. He turned her around in his arms and she buried her face into the solid chest, her terror bringing hot tears to the surface before she could stop them.

"It's okay," Reynolds whispered into her hair. "You're okay."

Maddy shook her head tearfully. She was far from okay. She felt like she was falling apart, lost in some macabre nightmare that she would never be able to escape from and it was all her fault. She was the one who entered to contest and now she was a prisoner and had just been attacked by a dinosaur. It was so much more surreal and terrifying than she could have ever imagined.

"We should go." Carter said roughly, reaching out down to pluck a handful of colorful feathers from a nykoraptor near his foot, giving it a considering look. He met their eyes evenly. "Now."

Reynolds nodded and quickly scooped her into his arms again.

…

It took several more hours to reach their destination. The trees thinned out once more, the sunlight peeking through the canopy above growing dimmer with each passing minute, although it still made it much easier to see if anything was stalking them through the forest. Nothing else had made itself known, but it was likely there was always something lurking about and just waiting for the right moment to pounce.

As they began to crest a small hill, Maddy opened her eyes slowly from the crook of his neck s she heard whispers. Reynolds had not mentioned her tears once during the rest of the journey, only squeezing her gently whenever she released a particularly loud sniffle. She despised how soothing she found his silent comfort, wishing she could just hate him despite the fact that he had saved her life.

People were at the base of the hill when she turned to look. She recognized a few of them from the day she arrived. They were all whispering amongst themselves, pointing at her and studying her. Some were even fingering their weapons as if they expected she might leap out of the arms supporting her at any given moment to lay siege.

Clearly these people had been out in the jungle for too long.

Everyone fell silent with a single look from Carter though, who then led the way to what she assumed was their camp. She was expecting tents made of dinosaur hide or thatched roof, but instead he walked directly toward the base of an enormous tree. He reached out for a vine in front of him almost absently, his body suddenly catapulted upward towards the branches.

Maddy followed his quick ascent with wide eyes.

It must have been a common practice because Carter seemed completely at ease doing it, landing with almost feline grace upon the wooden platform constructed high up in the tree. She immediately noticed the pulley mechanism that allowed him to do so, glancing around at all of the similar systems mounted to the branches all around.

It was then that Maddy realized that several more people watched from above, leaning over balconies or out of windows from the entire village built into the trees. She could hazard a guess that nearly every tree in the nearby vicinity had buildings built onto them, all interconnected with aerial ropeslides, walking planks or rope ladders that were tight up and hanging at the ready for access to the platforms higher up.

One such ladder suddenly dropped right in front of Maddy as they arrived at the base of another tree. She eyed the multitude of rigid rungs strung up by the thick, woven ropes that looked more like natural vines dubiously as they swayed like a pendulum in front of her. She could barely stand on her own—how did they expect her to climb up that?

Reynolds lowered her to the ground, keeping a steadying hand at the small of her back. "Just put your feet through here." He said, kneeling down to hold the bottom of the ladder to keep it stabilized.

"… I don't think I can climb that," she admitted quietly, but he only smiled slightly and pointed above.

"They will pull you up." He assured her.

Maddy frowned and looked up at the small hatched that the rope had been thrown from. She could see faces peeking out through the small opening, but couldn't make out distinct features from this distance. Swallowing her reservations, she did ad she was told, sliding her feet into a rung and looping one arm through the gabs so she could secure her hold.

Just as promised the ladder began to move. She grasped on even tighter, clenching her eyes shut as the ground became further and further away while she was slowly pulled up to the platform by two people she didn't recognize. She accepted the hand that reached for her once she was finally at the top, nearly stumbling as an odd sound whooshed beside her, followed by a loud thump of boots.

Reynolds stood firmly on the walkway, nodding his head at her as he released the rope. "You okay?" he asked grasping her arm as her legs threatened to give out. His brows pinched together when she only nodded. "Come on," he urged her carefully, leading her toward the open door just ahead of them. "You can sit down once we're inside."

Moments later Maddy found herself in a rather sizable room. it had two windows, both of them barred with a type of metal similar to the door from the cave, various cabinets and a desk along two of the walls, a large table to the side near the only exit and a small cot in the far corner near where the floor and ceiling was built around the trunk of the tree.

Sitting down on the cot gratefully, Maddy finally noticed what was hanging on the wall beside the bed with a grimace. In the same indeterminable metal as the bars was some kind of long chain with a manacled cuffed to the end, all embedded into the tree by some deep pike. She eyed it warily, her stomach sinking as one of the men who helped pull her up immediately walked toward it.

Kneeling beside her, the stranger took the cuff in hand and reached for her left wrist. The metal felt startlingly cold against her skin as he secured it, heavy enough that it weighed down her wrist as she felt it settled in place. She swallowed as the man fiddled with it, looking up anxiously to see Reynolds move outside to stand guard on the other side of the door.

The lock clicked as if it were sealing her fade.

…

It was hours before anyone entered again.

Maddy had already given almost every aspect of the room a cursory glance. It had taken her longer to maneuver around than it should have though, because she had fallen the moment she tried to rise. Her muscles still felt weak and tired, refusing to cooperate with her, but she was very certain that they must have gone through a lot of trouble to get her here and this room had been tailored for her.

Every cabinet was locked with the exception of the one with the drawers. It contained a convenient change of clothing, worn and tattered, but exactly her size right down to the underwear. In the drawer below that one, all of her medications were lain out and organized, another still containing some teas and herbal remedies that had obviously been made here—such as the eucalyptus rub that she had been given earlier. Her plexpad was sitting in the last one, the core removed so that it was more or less an expensive paperweight, but at least they left the hardrive and the actual device mostly intact.

Even the manacles were specified for her slender wrists, small enough that she could not pry her hand our no matter how hard she tried, but large enough that it allowed her room to twist her hand for free range of movement. She could not get the latch undone She thought it might require a key, but there was no opening for one. The cuff was completely smooth, the only exception the seams where it connected together. She supposed it could have an electronic key, some kind of magnetized way of unlocking it, but that was a bit… sophisticated… and she still wasn't sure what these people were capable of yet.

Maddy had just managed to shuffle her way along the walls and back to the cot when she heard voices outside. She recognized the female voice as the woman from yesterday and tensed the moment she opened the door and entered the room. She looked just as fierce as she had before, a scowl painted across her lips and her hair pulled back away from her face.

Walking closer with a steady look, the woman stared her down. "Are you going to cooperate this time?" she asked evenly, a satisfied smile settling on her lips when she received a muted nod in reply. "Good. That girl we found in your bag…" Her tone turned absolutely smug when she noticed the way every muscle in the young woman's body stiffened. "We couldn't find her on the pilgrimage manifest… which means you obviously had to smuggle her through the portal."

Maddy swallowed tightly, staring down at her hands as she nodded apprehensively.

"You're lucky that Carter ordered someone to search your bag for your medication last night," the woman added coolly, tilting her head a bit. "Poor thing was out of food by then. What is she to you?" She waited a moment with no answer before prompting, "Is she your daughter…? No, you're only sixteen and she looks at least four. Is she your sister or a cousin you just couldn't leave behind?"

Maddy lifted her head slowly, trying to regulate her panicked breaths before the other woman could notice. "Where is she?" she asked weakly, clenching her hands together tightly.

"So you can speak," the woman mocked with a successful twinge in her voice. "Finally, some progress." She crossed her arms and smirked in a self-satisfied way. "Now tell me your name."

Maddy twitched violently, jerking forward and narrowing her eyes. "Where is _she?_" she repeated evenly. "What have you done with her?"

"State your name first."

"… Madelyn Shannon."

"That wasn't so hard, now was it?" the woman cooed derisively. "What is she to you?"

Maddy gnashed her teeth together in frustration. "She's my sister." She admitted reluctantly.

Nodding thoughtfully, the woman only turned. "Carter!"

At her abrupt call, Carter entered through the open door. He had a small bundle in his arms and Maddy surged forward without thinking at the sight of her sister, dropping to her knees after just a few small steps with a pained gasp. She struggled forward anyway, moving on her hands and knees. Her sister suddenly began to struggle within his arms too, twisting violently to be released.

"Maddy!" Zoe cried loudly, pulling at the arm around her middle. "Maddy! Let me go!" She sunk her teeth into his arm suddenly, darting forward as the man dropped her with a startled curse.

Maddy caught her as the younger girl launched into her open arms. She closed her eyes, hot tears spilling out onto her cheeks as she held her close. "Zoe…" she breathed out, clutching her as if it might confirm that she was not just an illusion that would dissipate at any moment. She could feel her sister shaking, upset and scared, and tried to sooth her with shushing sounds as she attempted to pull back for a better look. "Are you okay?"

"Where were you?" Zoe asked tearfully, sucking in a shuddering breath.

"Oh, Zo," Maddy swallowed, unsure exactly how to answer that without alarming her. She just pulled her close again, burying her face into the dark hair. "… Did they hurt you?"

Zoe shook her head, still burrowed in the crook of her neck. "No."

"No? They haven't hurt you?" She questioned urgently, not quite sure if she could believe it. Zoe shook her head again though, repeating her answer and Maddy allowed herself to feel relief. She pressed even closer, kissing the side of her head. "It's okay Zoe… everything will be okay…" She wanted to offer more comforting words, but anything else would surely be a lie. She would do whatever they wanted though. She would.

"I want to go home!" Zoe cried into her neck, her small body shaking in her arms.

"I know, Zo…" Maddy said helplessly, running a hand down the small back to try and calm her. She closed her eyes again, trying to stop the tears that refused to slow. "I know. I do too." She held her for what seemed like only minutes before someone attempted to pull her away again. "No! No, don't!"

"Maddy!" Zoe screamed and shrieked as she was unwillingly lifted, thrashing fiercely in the arms that carried her away as if they were hot bands of molten iron searing her. "Let go! Maddy!" She reached out over the broad shoulders with another desperate sob. "I want Maddy!"

Each cry was like a blade carving deep into her heart and Maddy caught her hand for one brief moment as she urgently tried to pursue, but the chain snapped taut as the slack ended. "No! Bring her back!" She screamed, twisting against the restraint, uncaring of the metal that bit into her skin. "Zoe!" She could hear her sister crying even as the door slammed shut behind them, muffling the sound as she was taken further and further away.

"Have a seat."

Maddy stiffened at the calm, unaffected command. She looked up slowly, her eyelashes clumped together as she glowered at the woman who merely stood there with her arms crossed. An unfamiliar feeling surged through her veins at the sight, rage and hatred spurring her usually mild temper to its boiling point as she rose unsteadily to her feet. She moved without warning, hurling herself at the other woman.

Clearly disconcerted by the unexpected move, the woman did not react quickly enough to avoid the first blow—the wrist clad in metal clapping hard against her jaw as Maddy swung at her. She stumbled back in disbelief with blood trickling from her lip, dark eyes widening as the younger woman struck out for a second time. She grasped the wrist this time though and twisted viciously, forcing her to submit to the ground.

Maddy bit her lip against the pain, crying out as an arm locked around her neck. She struggled to breathe, trying to dig her fingernails into the flesh of the arm in an attempt to alleviate the pressure. She succeeded in drawing more blood, but the grip only tightened instead of loosening.

"Listen here, little girl," the woman said through gritted teeth. "The kid is safe…. for now." She tightened her grip even more, chuckling as she received the desired response, all of the fight suddenly draining out of her prisoner. "That girl is actually lucky, because as unexpected as she might have been, she may actually prove to be somewhat useful."

The thinly veiled threat caused her belly to clench with unease. "W-what…" Maddy choked out, her lungs burning with the need to breath. She drew in desperate breaths as the pressure was somewhat released, just enough for her to speak. "What… do you… want?"

"Your cooperation for starters," the woman said calmly. "Next time I ask you a question, you will answer it without hesitation. When I tell you to do something, you will do it immediately. You are never to strike out at me or my men again, because if you do…" She let the words hand ominously. "We need your obedience and if you do what we want you to, if you behave… we might just even let you and your sister go." She unwound her arm and pushed her forward.

Maddy collapsed onto the ground roughly, jagged coughs expelling from her lungs and gingerly reaching up to touch the sore exterior of her throat. She could not find the strength to move more than that. "… What do… you want me to do?" she asked softly, her voice gravelly and hoarse.

"You'll find out soon enough." The woman promised quietly.

…

"Are you okay?"

Maddy barely acknowledged the question as she remained curled upon herself on the floor, her knees tucked into her chest as she stared ahead bleakly. She almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the notion—how could she possibly be okay after her baby sister was violently ripped from her arms only moments after being reunited? How could she be okay after being nearly suffocated? She took in a quivering breath instead, gently tracing in the tender bruises on her neck.

Shifting uneasily near the door at her lack of reaction, Reynolds sighed heavily. He shuffled forward a little and closed the door behind him, moving until his back was against the wall, directly in her line of sight. He slid down the length of it, bending his knees as he rested his forearms atop the. He made no effort to speak; instead he just sat there quietly.

Maddy met his eyes for the briefest moment. She was unable to understand his motives. His face was younger than she had first realized. She suspected he may be closer to her own age, perhaps a bit older. She was not in the mood to even try and analyses his strange behavior right now though. She just wanted to be alone.

Closing her eyes, she listened to the sound of her own ragged breathing.

…

It was difficult to find the energy to move.

Maddy had trouble laying her mind to rest as the hours passed. Her eyelashes were essentially glued together from her tears and she felt completely drained by everything that had happened. It all seemed to converge into one giant mess in her mind. She had barely moved an inch, still curled up on her side on the floor motionlessly as she absently listened to the unfamiliar sounds around her.

Unfortunately it gave her a lot of time to think. Her mind drifted to her parents and her brother, probably safe and sound elsewhere in a brand new home. She wondered if they were even looking for her under the circumstances. She could no longer picture them out searching the jungle after today. She didn't even want to, not after the encounter with the nykoraptors.

Not to mention Maddy had never heard of anyone ever being separated from the time stream like this before. She doubted there was any kind of protocol for it. They might even think she and Zoe were just suspended in time and could walk out of the terminus at any given moment as if it were still days before.

Maddy wished it were true.

Whatever these people wanted her to do could not be good, but Maddy knew that she didn't have much of a choice. She would do whatever they wanted as long as it meant that she could eventually take her sister and leave. She knew the chances of being released after giving them what they wanted were not exactly favorable though. She would need a contingency plan, a way to get her and Zoe out of here somehow just in case… as soon as she found where they were keeping her.

Eventually her thoughts were broken as Reynolds began to move around. She heard him rise, holding her breath as he started to approach. She felt him settle beside her with a sigh just before his hands slid under her. He carefully lifted her from the hard, wooden floor and moved her gently onto the cot, pulling a threadbare blanket over her. He must have thought she was asleep and she hadn't the desire to correct him.

"… I'm sorry," he whispered, arranging her arms into a somewhat comfortable position. "I'm so sorry. I won't let them hurt her…" He brushed her cheek lightly with the back of his fingers before he began to retreat from the room. "You have my word."

Maddy pried her eyes open, turning her head just as the door closed behind him. "Thank you." She breathed out, not quite speaking the words and she knew he had not heard. She wasn't quite sure if she believed him… but it was all she had.


	5. Just Close Your Eyes

**Escape with My Heart**

_V. Just Close Your Eyes  
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Maddy had fallen asleep at some point during the night. She still felt exhausted and absolutely drained by the time she woke, but golden rays of light shined through the windows and made it impossible to keep her eyes shut. She had never felt the sun before, not like this.

It felt warm as it illuminated the dark room, ascending somewhere beyond her sight and she wished that she could enjoy the feel of it for the first time. She had always wanted to just sit beneath it and let the warm light warm her skin without the fear of more than just a possible sunburn, but it felt almost tainted as it would have been back in Chicago under these grim circumstances.

Outside of the windows there was not all that much to see.

It was a sheer drop all the way to the ground, so even without the bars in place she would either need one of those rope ladders to get down or she would risk breaking her neck attempting to climb. She had never climbed more than stairs before and she was not exactly the most physical person in the world, even before her health scare months ago. She doubted she would be able to get down on her own just yet.

The foliage limited her range of sight as well, making it difficult to see anything beyond the leaves and the branches. It was frustrating, like being blindfolded all over again because she had no real feel for where she was outside of this room. She could, however, fit her head between one of the windows and could see part of the catwalk to her right. It was the space where the floor opened up, the one she had been pulled through the night before.

Maddy decided after studying it almost all morning that she could probably hold on to the exterior wall and make it to the platform if she could just get out of the window. of course it was a rather long way down and considering she was still having a bit of trouble just standing on her own, she would have to wait until the opportune moment to attempt it. She needed to recuperate first and the time it took her to recover should give her sufficient time to figure out how to get the cuff off of her wrist.

An odd whooshing noise reached her ears just as Maddy was testing the strength of the bars. She now attributed the sound to the pulley mechanisms that volleyed people up into the trees and immediately tensed. She tried to see who it was, peering outside the window, but all she saw was a large, dirty hand releasing the rope before footsteps made their way toward the door. She slowly inched her way back toward the cot, reaching it just as the door opened.

"Morning, Kitten," Carter greeted her gruffly, lifting an eyebrow at her as she slumped down onto the cot with a huff. He surveyed her carefully, his dark eyes lingering on her wrist which had been a little torn up last night when she had been struggling to get to her sister and on the bruising around her neck after her near strangulation. He grabbed the chair from the table and plopped it down beside her. "Here…"

Maddy silently accepted the tin cup he extended to her. She had already reconciled the fact that she would have to resist subtly from now on rather than to their faces if she wanted to keep her sister safe. And if she planned to escape she would need her strength and for that she would need sustenance. It was either accept what they gave her or possibly go without anything… and it was impossible to know how long they would remain hospitable enough to keep her from starving.

Peering in to the cup curiously, Maddy noted that the broth was different than what he had given her the previous day. Instead of pale gold, it was a light brown with fresh herbs, but it smelled just as good. She sipped at it carefully, grudgingly admitting to herself that it was delicious. The warm liquid felt particularly good going down her sore throat.

As if reading the direction of her thoughts, Carter spoke. "I bet your throat hurts like a bitch," he said, leaning back comfortably in the chair as he watched her. "I made a balm that you can put on it to reduce the pain." He reached inside of his pocket and produced a small jar, as well as a few other items that she recognized—more bindings and another salve. "Plus, I wanted to check on your leg."

"… You were a doctor?" she asked quietly, swallowing another sip of the broth.

Carter paused at her question, his eyebrows lifting up. "Nope," he denied, saying nothing more on the matter as he gestured for her leg. She scooted further back onto the cot and extended the injured leg carefully onto his thigh as directed and watching as he methodically removed the bandages. He nodded to himself in approval as he studied the wounds. "It's healing nicely. You should be fine in a few days."

Maddy curled one arm around her stomach as she watched him apply the cooling salve over the cuts and expertly rebound her leg with deft hands. He reminded of her mother when she was concentrating on a patient and there was something in the intent way he moved on to the next injury, repeating the same method of cleaning and applying salve to both of her wrists, that assured her that he had at least some medical training. He was too efficient not to have any.

Who were these people? She wondered what they all did before they defected. If Carter had medical experience, what did Reynolds and the psychotic woman do before they came here? Her initial thought was that they were all just a bunch of mercenaries for hire and that someone truly had rigged the lottery to bring them here. For all she knew though they could have been well respected citizens who had been recruited, perhaps only with ulterior motives in coming here. She had struggled back and forth all night and could only hazard a few guesses even still.

Carter finished working on her neck a few minutes later. She watched him carefully as he began disposing of the ruined bandages and putting away his supplies. She sighed inwardly swallowing the last of her meal in one large gulp, offering the cup back to him when he returned. She licked the flavor off her lips, her throat feeling much better from both the soup and the balm.

"Your sister likes my cooking too," he mentioned casually, seemingly unaware that her entire body seized at his words. She watched him now critically, riveted by the offhand comment. He seemed oblivious to just how deeply his words affected her, but his dark eyes met hers and she knew that he knew exactly what he was saying. "She had five cups yesterday."

Maddy wanted to cry in relief at the news. They were not starving her sister. Zoe was even smaller than Maddy was, so much younger and her body needed the nourishment more. She had been so fearful to even question how her sister was being treated, uncertain she wanted to know the answer, but this news actually gave her some comfort even if it was only just the slightest piece of mind.

"It is doing her some good too." He continued almost nonchalantly, observing his dirt laden fingernails as he did so. "She is a tiny thing, much like you are, but you Shannon girls have a lot of violence for such unassuming little girls." He chuckled slightly, his eyes flashing in amusement as he rolled back the sleeve of his shirt.

Maddy felt a twinge of guilty pride when she noticed the deep crescent ring of adolescent, gapped teeth imprinted into his skin. She had almost forgotten that Zoe had bitten him last night. She was glad to see he was taking it in a stride, much like he had with his broken nose, instead of taking it out on her sister… or her, for that matter. If anything, he seemed entertained by their little acts of hostility.

"You know, she even tried to get me again an hour ago when I brought her breakfast," he smirked, and she was very hard pressed not to smile at the admittance. She didn't quite succeed, because he snorted at her with a roll of his eyes. "Yeah, yeah… I see that evil smile. You two are vicious."

Maddy bit her lip slightly, giving him a hopeful look. "Can I see her?"

Carter observed her for a moment before he released a heavy sigh. "Sorry, Kitten," he replied, and to be fair, he did sound genuinely regretful as he dashed her small hopes. "Not my call." He stood up slowly, stretching a bit and putting the chair back. "You'll have to take it up with the boss."

Maddy inwardly cringed. "… The boss… is that woman?"

"That's her all right." Carter nodded, his eyebrows furrowing momentarily. "She should be here later this afternoon. Try not to antagonize her too much. She has been in a foul mood for the past month and I'd hate to see her take it out on you again."

"… Okay."

Carter nodded sharply, his lips twisting into a half smile. "See you later, Kitten." He moved toward the door in a quick, confident stride, though seemed to falter once he cleared the threshold. She almost shivered as his expression unexpectedly grew dark. He looked quite menacing as he frowned severely at whatever it was he was looking at.

Maddy winced slightly as he abruptly slammed the door shut behind him. She was tense for a moment before she stood at the quiet murmur she heard beyond the walls. Moving closer to the window as quietly and quickly as she could, she shamelessly eavesdropped on the conversation.

"—and didn't your shift end four hours ago, Reynolds?" she heard, catching only the tail end of Carter's demand. There was an odd pang in his voice; it wasn't exactly anger, but something more akin to exasperation. "What happened to Curran?"

"There was a little mix up with the duty sheet." Reynolds replied evenly, his voice clearly unaffected by the fact that he could be in some trouble. "You mind if I check on her?"

Carter was silent for a moment before he scoffed. "Sure there was," he said scathingly. "And _no_, you are not allowed inside her cabin. You're lucky I kept my mouth shut about that stunt you pulled back in the cave, 'cause you're already on thin ice as it is."

"… Would you have followed those orders either?" Reynolds demanded "You would have let her go without water for—"

"Doesn't matter what I would have done," Carter interrupted roughly. "You keep disobeying orders and people are going to question what use you are here. Quit digging your own grave, kid, 'cause I ain't going to be there to dig your pansy ass out."

Reynolds sounded grudging when he replied. "Fine…" he said. "Now can I check on her?"

Carter released a frustrated grunt. "No, you little shit. I don't trust punks like you in her room. No one goes near her except for Mira and me… and Lucas."

Maddy frowned at the sudden shift in his voice. She had no idea what to make of it, but she was guessing Mira was the woman in charge. It was only an assumption, because she had only interacted with a handful of these people and hardly had much to go on.

"… Lucas?"

Reynolds sounded almost… unnerved as he said the name or perhaps even… fearful. It made her feel anxious, because anyone who could instill such intimidation in a man that had willingly carried her through the heart of nykoraptor territory yesterday without even blinking was clearly someone to be reckoned with.

"What the hell does _he _want with her?" Reynolds asked, though his voice was low and demanding, as if he were trying to contain his own emotions. She felt an unpleasant chill go down her spine, something telling her that she would not like this mysterious Lucas person either.

Carter sighed heavily. "Fine," he said shortly, ignoring the previous question. "You can stand guard, but if you fall asleep on the job after pulling something like this, it's _your _ass on the line. Got it kid?"

Maddy listened a while longer, but she assumed Reynolds must had nodded because all she heard was a bit of shuffling before everything fell silent outside. She frowned in confused frustration as she wondered back toward her cot. She planted her chin in the palm of her hand with a huff, trying to sort through all of the dialogue se had overheard.

No wonder the saying was eavesdroppers seldom hear anything good, because she hadn't heard a thing she could understand. It was impossible to decipher their conversation without more information. She felt more confused now than before.

…

Mira arrived a few hours later wearing her customary scowl across her features. Though for someone who looked so severe and intimidating, the woman could be deceptively pleasant when she wanted to be. She had simply walked inside the room and asked Maddy to take a seat at the table before she introduced herself.

It was… positively unnerving; the change was startling from how ruthless Mira had been before, to have her speaking in civil tones for this second round of interrogation. She went through the same inane questionnaire as she previously had, though it seemed as more of a test, to see how far she could push the questions with adequate responses rather than a chance to embarrass or humiliate her.

Maddy for her own part was as cooperative as she could manage. She dutifully answered everything thrown at her in a monotone voice, unwilling to give her captor more ammunition from her own reactions. They hardly needed more ammunition against her anyway, considering they had all they would ever need in the form of a five-year-old girl. She was essentially at their mercy now.

By the time the interrogation was over, Maddy felt emotionally exhausted. Her mouth was dry from speaking so much, her back ached from sitting in the uncomfortably chair and her head was throbbing in a telltale sign of the impeding heading as well. But Mira was finally rising to leave, so she just waited for the moment she would finally be alone.

Mira paused just at eh door, turning back to look at her. "Do you know why you're here?"

"… You want me to do something for you."

Mira nodded, studying her with cool, dark eyes. "Have you figured out what yet?" She sounded as if she wanted something confirmed, as if she were expecting a positive answer.

Maddy had honestly given it very little thought since that first night. She had been too out of it yesterday to reflect on anything, much too worried and upset to even consider logical thinking. Her emotions had been haywire and this morning she was too busy trying to familiarize herself with this room to bother analyzing it.

And to be honest, Maddy was actually disinclined to know what they wanted from her. She had the most foreboding sense, certain that whatever it was would leave her upset and unwilling. She would need to know eventually of course, but she may not be able to fake cooperation so well if she knew. She was a horrible liar and if they ordered her to do something terrible… she doubted she could convince them that she would.

"… No." Maddy answered quietly, giving her a questioning look. "Will you tell me?" She doubted she would get a real answer, so there was no harm in asking. She could pretend for a while longer, keep up the presence for as long as it took for her to find a way to escape from this prison.

Mira smiled sardonically at her, the expression void of any actual humor. "You'll find out soon enough. He should be here within the next two weeks, after all."

Uncertainty swelled in her chest as Maddy watched the woman leave without another word. She felt a chill go down her spine, gooseflesh appearing all over her arms and shoulders that had nothing to do with the weather. She pulled the jacket closer to her body anyway to try and stave the feeling. Her mind was reeling with more questions and she felt uncomfortable not knowing what was going on.

Maddy hated feeling this out of control. She hated feeling this hopeless and unclear about what was to come. This was just as bad as living in that dismal wasteland. At least there she knew what to expect. Here… she had nothing.

…

Days passed without anything of consequence happening.

Maddy had developed a bit of a routine, though it was more out of necessity than anything else. She would wake up just in time to watch the sunlight flitter through the barred window. She had discovered on day three that, other than the constant guard stationed outside of her door, everyone else seemed to sleep during this hour.

After taking her medications with the small canteen of water they provided her with daily, would walk along the walls of the room to attempt to regain some strength in her legs. It would be a while before she could run again, but she was beginning to feel steadier on her feet each day. She also used that time to search the room, trying to find any weaknesses she might be able to exploit as means of escape. So far she was unsuccessful and everything seemed to be built sturdy and strong, but she had to try.

One thing that Maddy found intriguing was those locked cabinets. She was almost positive that there could be something useful inside at least one of them. Why else would they have locked them all? She just had to figure out a way to get them open. It was a bit frustrating to realize that all of her knowledge of picking locks from a mechanical standpoint was essentially useless when she had nothing to pick them with.

Usually about an hour after she woke, her guard would rotate with someone else and then two hours after that, Carter would arrive with her morning meal. He had brought her different flavored broths for the past few days, though they were all just as good as the previous recipes. He seemed to be diluting it less and less with each mean, which could only he was trying to gradually work her up to consuming richer foods eventually.

Maddy was being served four to five cups of broth a day, so at least they were no longer actively starving her. It made it easier to think when her stomach was not constantly paining her. She felt better with that knowledge at least. Her injures were healing now too, the slashes nearly completely healed and leaving sensitive pink skin in its place and her wrists had finally scabbed over.

Carter would assess her condition in the morning and adjust her bandages if needed. He seemed pleased with her returning health, informing her that she could actually eat more if she could stomach it but she was not quite ready yet. He would usually do the majority of the talking while he visited, though she was grateful for it because the subject of interest was often her sister. He kept her informed on how Zoe was doing and in turn she was more responsive when he asked her questions.

Not that he actually needed to ask, especially considering he likely knew her entire life history.

Mira had visited again the day after her second interrogation, but had only come for all of five minutes before leaving and had been absent for the days following it. She had not been seen since, Although Maddy was not exactly complaining about that. No matter how pleasant that woman could be when she put in the effort, she still felt dangerous and Maddy would rather not be around her unless absolutely necessary.

Maddy was actually under the impression that Mira was away for at least a few days. Everyone else seemed to be deferring to Carter as their default leader recently, interrupting his daily visits with questions or information that she would eavesdrop on unabashedly through the window. Not exactly a baseless assumption, but she figured it was only a temporary arrangement. He seemed to be trying to shoo everyone away from her, but she could recognize a handful of the others by name now.

A man with short dark hair named Curran and redheaded woman named Ashe seemed to be the most frequent to visit her, usually delivering her water or soup in absence of Carter or to deliver a message to him respectively. They never really spoke around her or introduced themselves… but they spoke to each other. It was actually surprising at how easy it was to gather information through spying.

During those unabashed observations, Maddy had managed to learn quite a bit about the people holding her captive. They never truly spoke of anything too important where they could be overheard, but she had learned that they were indeed deserters from the original colony. They seemed to go by the adopted moniker of the "Sixers," apparently due to the fact that a majority of them were all from the Sixth Pilgrimage. It was a bit startling to think that someone had enough power to completely assemble a whole pilgrimage of hand selected recruits or lottery winners with a singular reason for coming here.

Oddly enough the only guard who ever seemed to be outside of her door for more than three hours at a time was Reynolds. He would leave when someone came to relieve him, only to return a short while later to resume the rest of the shift. She honestly had no idea what to make of his behavior. He had earned himself quite a few exasperated looks from Carter when he saw him standing watch by the door, but the other man never said anything about it beyond that one time that she knew of.

Reynolds could not be getting more than six hours of sleep a day at three hour intervals. She was a bit apprehensive as to _why _he was doing it, but other than constantly knocking on the door and peeking inside to ask her how she was doing or if she needed anything, he had been… nice. He was oddly attentive for someone holding her hostage. She was willing to accept it for now, because who knew how long his kind façade would last.

Whatever the motivation, Maddy was skeptical and not stupid enough to trust it. She still had to assume that it was some kind of deceptive technique. Traumatic bonding… she knew it happened often. Victims in situations such as hers could develop empathy or sympathy for their captors, especially if there were aggressors to counterbalance the kindness. She refused to fall for it. He could pretend all he wanted, but she would not be fooled. He was the enemy… all of them were. Carter and Reynolds both might treat her decently, perhaps more than she would have expected given the circumstances, but she would never trust either of them.

The only people Maddy could trust were her family.

…

Today was over and tomorrow it would begin all over again.

It had been a long day of searching through the room with little success, but Maddy was determined. There had to be something she was missing and she needed to find a way out. She had to, because staying here indefinitely without some exit strategy was simply not an option. She would pretend as much as they wanted her to, give them the illusion that they had her complete cooperation, but she had not survived one hell just to endure another.

Maddy would fight them from within. She was too much like her father, too stubborn to just roll over and be a puppet. She needed to figure out why she was here. Even if it was as bad as she was envisioning, she could not allow her emotions to control her in this instance. Knowledge was power and right now they held all the cards. She could not expect to regain any control if she remained ignorant. She had known that from the beginning, even if she hadn't wanted to acknowledge it at first. She would just have to control her reactions once she figured it out to ensure they would not suspect anything from her.

Mira seemed to expect her to have at least some kind of idea of why she was here the other day, although Maddy was not exactly certain why. She started with the portal, since that was when all of this began. They had somehow manipulated it to separate her from the rest of the pilgrimage. She already knew they were perhaps more clever and capable than she had initially given them credit for, but the degree of provision it took to do something of this magnitude... It must have taken several months, perhaps even years of development to create the technology to influence the portal terminus to begin with, but they had also chosen her out of everyone else.

There must have been at least one hundred recruits assembled for this pilgrimage and everyone went in at random, even she did despite the fact that she was told she could go first. How had they managed to single her out? She had not even been the first pilgrim through and no one after her had come through either. That must mean… what? That there was something wrong with her? She was just like everyone else… except… she had been chosen. She had not been recruited or won the lottery like everyone else present the other day. She stood out… because she had won a prize. She had won a contest.

Maddy drew in a deep breath as the realization came to her, lying down on the cot with her eyes closing briefly. It was the only thing truly unique about her in comparison to the strangers of the Tenth Pilgrimage. There had to be a connection to from the contest to her being imprisoned here. She could not be certain of anything; at least not without confirming it somehow, but... why else would she be the one standing here instead of her brother, even when he was the one to walk through first. At that thought, she wondered where Josh was right now.

It was difficult to think of, but she could never stay thinking of one subject for long before her mind was distracted by thoughts of her family. She had been actively pushing thoughts of them out of her head since she got here, if only because it was so painful to contemplate their fate. It helped to try to remain optimistic and envision that they were safe and sound within the protective walls of Terra Nova. She imagined that her parents had already found ways to occupy their time somehow. Maybe her mother found work at the hospital and her father… perhaps there was an opening in agriculture since she was sure there was no real work for detectives here.

An image of her father trying to remove enormous weeds popped into her might and Maddy released a tearful laugh. She figured her father had the opposite of a green thumb. He lacked the patience for gardening, so for him to work with plants would be a recipe for disaster. He probably wouldn't last more than a few hours doing a job like that. She figured he would be much better off trying to find work among the security force.

Maddy missed them all so much. She even missed Josh and his overprotective tendencies. She would give anything right now to have him just sit beside her and play his guitar. She tried to recall some of the songs he had played for her in the past, but for all she understood about mathematics and science and a lot of other things, music were something that had always eluded her. She just had no talent for it. She remembered the beat of one comforting song and tried to recreate it in her mind in an attempt to aid her in sleeping.

Bringing her out of her thoughts a few minutes later, there was a gentle rap of knuckles across the door before it opened slightly. She sat up on the cot, twisting around and pressing her back against the wall behind her as she watched the familiar face peek inside. Her shoulders relaxed minutely and she pulled her knees to her chest while she watched him step inside.

"Hey," Reynolds said softly in greeting, the same usual brightness in his eyes that gave the impression he was smiling even as his lips remained flattened. He shuffled inside a little and closed the door behind him, taking a step back until he rested against it. His hands were clearly visible and unthreatening at his side, just as they always were.

Despite having no trust for him, Maddy at least believed he meant her no physical harm. She was a bit unsure what he was doing here right now though. It was already dark outside and a stillness in the air that signified everyone was already sleeping. He had never entered this late before that she could remember.

"… Were you singing just now?"

Maddy frowned at the question, not quite sure what he meant at first. She then winced slightly as she realized she must have been humming the tune out loud rather than just inside of her own head. She was ashamed to admit that she felt embarrassed by the fact that he had overheard, her cheeks tinting pink in a blush without her consent.

"… It was beautiful." He told her gently, the genuine note in his voice not exactly helping with her predicament. She only ducked her head slightly to hide the effect his words had, trying to will the heat in her cheeks away. It was stupid to allow anything he said to affect her—it only gave him more control. He was silent for a while longer before he spoke again, his voice sympathetic. "Are you having trouble sleeping?"

Maddy really wished he would stop being so nice to her. It was more difficult to dismiss the kindness when he presented it to her so genuinely. She understood exactly how they thought this cruel deception might work on her. He was very convincing and she had to remind herself that she was being kept against her will. Even so… it did feel nice to have someone listen occasionally, if only to keep her from thinking herself to death. Loneliness was something she was accustomed to, but she needed a distraction.

"… Yes." She agreed reluctantly, folding her arms atop her knees and resting her chin on them and finally looked back up at him. He looked as if he were having trouble sleeping as well, because now that she actually took a moment to study him, she could see the discoloration beneath his eyes and the overall sense of tiredness that seem to radiate around him. His long days seemed to be catching up with him.

Reynolds shuffled his feet a bit, his eyebrows furrowed slightly as he reached up to rub the back of his neck. "Do you…" He sighed, cutting himself off. "Can I come closer?"

Maddy narrowed her eyes at him distrustfully. "… Why?" she asked in a wary tone. He pushed away from the door without moving forward, but instead of closing the distance, he lifted his hand for something that was hanging from his neck, hidden beneath the tattered olive shirt.

It was a small chain that had two small, strange shaped objects dangling from it.

Uncertain what they were at first, Maddy studied them curiously as he held them out for her to observe. He gestured toward her before tossing the chain in her direction. It landed on the cot beside her and she gave him a guarded glance before picking it up. She noted the small button on the widest part of the small, rectangular objects, deciding to place her thumb there.

A moment later a soft noise filled the silent room.

Maddy gasped in surprise as the unexpected strumming of an instrument emitted faintly from the device, creating a lovely and calming melody. She stared down at it as she listed, recognizing the instrument as a guitar. There were no lyrics and she could not identify the tune, but it was rather comforting.

With the music it was so easy to visualize that Josh was right beside her, his guitar held in his lap as he absently strummed some song. She felt the pang of longing in her chest as she envisioned it strengthen, her eyes unintentionally closing as she rested her cheek down on her forearm. She opened her eyes only when the melody ended, smiling softly as another one resumed in its place a moment later.

"It helps me sleep sometimes." Reynolds said gently, his voice low enough that she almost had trouble hearing it. He shrugged slightly when she met his eyes with hesitance, a half-smile on his face as he pushed his hands into his pockets and shifted so his back was once again against the door.

Maddy inhaled slowly, feeling unexpected comforted. "… Thank you." She said, watching as the smile grew a bit larger at her gratitude. He just stood there and let her listen for a while longer. She pressed back down on the small button after the next song ended and carefully extended her arm out so he could take it back.

Reynolds only studied her briefly before giving her a slow shake of his head. "No." He protested softly. "You keep it. You… need it more than I do."

Maddy bit the inside of her cheek as she retracted her arm uncertainly. There was something in his tone she couldn't discern, but she wasn't about to argue with him. She nodded and held the device close, watching as he finally moved away from the door in order to open it. He hesitated briefly and turned back to her for just a moment.

"Goodnight." He said quietly.

Maddy only nodded instead of returning the sentiment. She released a breath she had been unaware she was holding once the door was shut and she was alone. She brought the chain close to her face, studying it closer with curiosity and something tugged at her memory. She thought she might have seen one before, but she couldn't recall where she'd seen it or what it was.

Decided she would contemplate the matter another day, Maddy pressed her thumb down against the button, smiling involuntarily as another melodic tune began to play. She uncurled her body and spread out on the cot until she was comfortable, leaving the chain on her pillow as she reached for the thin blanket.

As the music played, her eyes drifted closed.

…

It was the sound of raised voices arguing that drew Maddy out of her slumber a few nights later. She blinked slightly, peering up at the thatched roof with a considering frown as her mind slowly came into awareness. She could hear someone speaking loudly but could hardly make out anything that was being said. She sat up on the rigid cot, listening for a moment to discern where the noise was coming from.

Maddy swung her legs over the side of her bed as the voices seemed to be coming directly below her. She slid down onto the floor on her hands and knees and pressed her face close to one of the large gaps she had discovered between the floorboards. It was large enough that she could get at least an inch of her slender fingers through, but unfortunately it wasn't loose enough for her to even try to pry up.

"—_specifically told you she was not to be harmed!_"

It was a male voice that was the loudest though not someone she could place among her limited knowledge of people here. It was a deeper pitch than Reynolds possessed, though not quite as deep or rasping as Carter. He sounded extremely angry, whoever he was. She peered down through the gap, spotting someone with dark hair glowing the in the light of the torch he was carrying.

Maddy could see a dark skinned woman walking beside him and groaned to herself. Judging by the colorful fathers in the hair, Mira had finally returned from her long absence.

"_You said to make her cooperate,_" the woman said, sounding irate and defensive. "_She'll do want you want now._"

"_You weren't supposed to touch her…_" He countered, voice brimming with rage. "_They brought her here for me._"

Maddy exhaled a short breath at the admission. She was brought here for him? Who was he? She recalled Mira mentioning a mysterious man would coming within two weeks and wondered if this was him. She quickly calculated just how many days she had been here for. It was difficult to believe she had been held prisoner for that long, but she felt unease settle in the pit of her stomach as she became aware of the fact that she had definitely been here for almost that length of time.

"_Where is she?_" He demanded.

Mira seemed to point above them at the cabin. "_We cleared out the lab and put her in there. She's probably asleep right now, so why don't we go discuss the situation I mentioned._"

"_… Fine. Were you able to…_"

Maddy wanted to listen further, but their voices grew distant all too soon as they walked brusquely toward their destination. She tried to listen for several minutes before giving up and rising from the floor. She was disappointed as she crawled back onto the cot, settling back down with a resigned sigh.

Feeling strangely uneasy, the young woman stared up at the ceiling and willed herself to fall back asleep. Her mind was being uncooperative though; it was too busy trying to dissect the conversation she had overheard. Eavesdropping seemed to be the only way she ever got any viable information here, but once again nothing she heard had given her much.

Maddy had a foreboding sense about what tomorrow might bring though. She was unsure if it was just the return of her warden and tormentor or the arrival of someone unknown that seemed to believe he had a claim on her, but her stomach was in knots and she dreaded what was to come.

Sighing heavily as she shifted on the bed, Maddy reached beneath the pillow and enclosed her hand round the small objects hidden there. She closed her eyes as the soothing strum of a guitar drifted through the room, filling the silence and calming her frazzled nerves in a beautiful cadence.

Tomorrow would be dealt with when it came. For now she would sleep.


End file.
